OFFICIALS from the World Health Organization (WHO) are expected to meet Department of Health (DOH) 7 officials today and discuss the Influenza A (H1N1) situation in the country.

“They will be here to look at our situation. It seems like we are doing something good here,” said Dr. Cora-Lou Kintanar, Pandemic Influenza Incident Command
spokesperson.

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Kintanar said the WHO officials will also meet with Regional Disaster Coordinating Council officials tomorrow.

She added that they have shown interest in the containment and mitigation practices the Philippines, Cebu in particular, has adopted.

“In Cebu, we are the only area that has a laboratory outside Manila. They will look at our laboratory,” said Kintanar.

The Armed Forces Research Institute for Medical Science (Afrims) at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) passed the standards set by WHO and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) to perform Influenza A virus tests.

Once the H1N1 primers will arrive in Cebu, the Afrims will eventually also be able to test for H1N1.

She added that it was also likely that the WHO team decided to visit because of the increasing number of H1N1 cases in the country.

According to the DOH, a total of 1,709 confirmed cases have been reported in the country, with one death. This places the Philippines as the eighth among the top 10 countries with the most number of cases of H1N1.

In Central Visayas, 38 cases of H1N1 have been reported.

Meanwhile, Provincial Board (PB) Member Victor Maambong urged the DOH to keep the National Government’s battle against the Influenza A (H1N1) virus open to the public instead of keeping its findings “secret, unpublicized and hushed-up.”

Hiding the actual status of the swine flu is “not only impertinent but also unhelpful and detrimental in the long run to international reputation of our country as well to the general welfare of our people,” Maambong said in a draft measure.

While members of the PB committee on health acknowledge the dedication of Madarieta and consider her an asset to the Cebuano community, Maambong, however, said DOH policy makers must be more dynamic and aggressive.

“They (DOH policy makers) should tap into the potent effectiveness of the local government units and the school. (DOH policy makers) must be transparent and open to other sector ideas especially with the forthcoming possible mutation of the pathogen which may be more lethal and devastating,” Maambong told Sun. Star Cebu.

However, Kintanar assured that the DOH is on top of the situation and it has been transparent in monitoring all the cases.

“What we are doing is being transparent and above board. We do not want to keep this a secret to the public or like in other countries where they underreport in hopes of keeping a good image. This is for the good of the public, for awareness,” said Kintanar.

Test

She added that the DOH has to know all reported cases of H1N1 in the country in order to study the trend of this new virus.

Kintanar added that the DOH 7’s Dr. Angelita Salarda has already visited all hospitals with polymerase chain reaction or PCR laboratories and advised them not to test for Influenza A for cases under observation (CUOs) for H1N1.

She said that while hospitals can test for influenza A and other viruses, the testing has to be under WHO and RITM standards.

“WHO is very strict about this,” noted Kintanar.

Should CUOs wish to be tested for H1N1, hospitals may take the throat swabs. However, only the Afrims and the RITM are the official laboratories that can test for H1N1.

The Afrims is set to start testing for H1N1 within the week.

Health officials also noted that it is unnecessary for CUOs to undergo testing for H1N1 in private hospitals since the government is doing it for free.

The test costs around P4,000. (EPB/GMD)