Gov seeks help for dengue

Batanes Governor Marilou Cayco is seeking assistance from the Department of Health (DoH) so they can deal with the rising number of dengue cases in the province.

“We are appealing to the Department of Health to send us hospital equipment for Itbayat because it is a primary hospital. We need those so we won’t need to airlift patients to Basco,” Cayco said in a radio interview on Saturday.

“Itbayat only has a primary hospital and does not have the necessary equipment to treat dengue patients,” said Cayco.

A dengue outbreak has been declared in the municipality of Itbayat and there have been two fatalities so far, a two-year-old child in Itbayat and another person in Basco, Cayco said.

The two-year-old was not brought to the hospital right away and it was too late when the child was finally hospitalized as there was internal bleeding already. She added that it was the same case in the fatality in Basco.

Meanwhile, the person in Basco was first brought to the hospital but since the test result showed negative for dengue, the patient was brought home, the governor said. However, after a few days, the patient became worse and was found to have internal bleeding when brought to the hospital again.

Cayco said the number of dengue cases has been decreasing in Itbayat, but the number is rising in Basco as there are already 30 dengue patients reported. The number of dengue cases began rising in July.

The governor said they are implementing the search and destroy strategy to prevent dengue-carrying mosquitoes from multiplying and noted that the Department of Science and Technology sent a team to Itbayat to see what assistance it can offer.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines Northern Luzon Command, the Philippine Air Force and the Philippine Coast Guard assisted in the airlifting of dengue patients from Itbayat to Basco where they could be treated at the Basco General Hospital.

Other patients had to be brought by boat to Basco, a two-and-a-half hour ride. Nelson Badilla

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