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Wednesday, December 08, 2004
Disease hits 416, kills baby, 2 more
By Minerva B. Gerodias & Jovy S. Taghoy
Sun.Star Staff Reporters
A six-month-old boy is the latest fatality in the gastroenteritis outbreak in Moalboal town, while the Department of Health (DOH) cleared the water supplier of any liability for the disease.
The Moalboal Water District (MWD) stood firm on its claim that the water they are supplying is free from contamination and should not be blamed for the outbreak, which has hit at least 416 people.
Three are confirmed dead, including the baby.
Dr. Junjie Zuasula of the DOH told Sun.Star last night that based on their latest samples, the water from MWD is safe to drink. An earlier report that showed high levels of contamination, he said, was based only on a screening test and needed confirmation.
Despite the DOH’s clearance, questions on MWD’s capability to distribute clean water remained, after the Provincial Government found out the firm lacked a permit from the National Water Resources Board (NWRB).
Unaware of MWD’s lack of permit, a representative of the Local Water Utility Administration (LWUA) went to Moalboal and proposed to Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia that the agency temporarily take over the water facility.
Instead of a warm welcome, Paul Fernandez of LWUA got a grilling by Garcia and the town officials during the meeting.
Fernandez failed to answer questions on what sanctions LWUA can slap on a firm that operated without a permit.
As to the latest death, Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) Chief Cristina Giango that Junson Georso was admitted to Badian District Hospital last Sunday but died the next day.
The boy had been suffering from diarrhea for four days before the parents brought him to the hospital.
Giango said the boy was first admitted last week for hernia. He was brought back to the hospital for diarrhea but died hours later because of severe dehydration.
Another person was reported dead in the area, but IPHO is yet to confirm if this was related to the outbreak.
While he admitted that “raw water” from the Busay Spring source is contaminated with microorganisms, MWD general manager Richard Sungcad explained that the water taken from the spring and supplied to the households has already undergone chlorination, so it is already free from any fecal or non-fecal coliform.
Sungcad presented to Sun.Star the latest result (Dec. 6) of the water samples taken by the Center for Health Development (CHD)-DOH showing negative results for the presence of bacterial contamination, except for the Busay Spring source.
Zuasula, CHD regional epidemiologist, said the samples were taken last Dec. 1 from different households and from the firm’s reservoirs.
“With our results, the chlorination process (of MWD) has reached a safety level that is effective enough to clear the water from any bacteria. So the waters supplied to the households is already okay for drinking,” Zuasula told Sun.Star in a separate interview.
Zuasula clarified that the CHD-DOH Dec. 3 report submitted to the governor was only an initial result of the screening test.
The report stated that at least two households where samples of drinking water were taken showed high contamination
Management
During LWUA’s meeting with the governor and town officials, Fernandez, aside from not knowing that MWD has no approved water permit, was also unaware that MWD has no certificate of public convenience and necessity.
The certificate supposedly serves as their authority to sell water.
Operations of water districts are under LWUA but when Garcia repeatedly asked Fernandez what sanction LWUA can impose on water districts that operate without a permit, he could not give a categorical answer.
“You are proposing to take over? How can you take over when you don’t even have an iota of idea of what is going on here? I will not support you because you do not what is going on,” Garcia told Fernandez.
Fernandez explained that if they find out that a water district has no water permit, they “try to convince them” to get one.
But when Garcia asked him if LWUA tolerates water districts operating without a permit, he did not say a word and just bowed his head.
Garcia and the local officials expressed their intention to run the water district, and Fernandez said the local government unit can do it but it just has to follow proper procedures before the LGU takes over.
Since they did not reach an agreement during yesterday’s discussion, Garcia set a meeting with the MWD board, Moalboal town officials and LWUA on Friday.
Of the 416 victims in the list, the governor gave P2,000 for those hospitalized, P1,000 for those who went to the rural health unit for check up and medication, and P5,000 for the relatives of those who died.
(December 8, 2004 issue)
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