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Saturday, August 13, 2005
DOH told: Stop downplaying dengue threat
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña criticized Department of Health (DOH) officials for saying that despite 19 deaths caused by dengue, there is no need yet to declare a state of calamity in the city.
Osmeña said yesterday that in the end, it is the City Government that will have to take care of the dengue patients when an outbreak occurs.
“DOH officials’ statement that there is no danger here is very counterproductive. Almost 700 people affected is not dangerous? I don’t see why it’s not dangerous, they’re only reading textbooks but I’m looking at real people here,” he said.
City Health Department (CHD) officials said that of the 685 cases reported, 19 have resulted in death.
For his part, Councilor Gerardo Carillo said he will not propose to cancel the declaration of a calamity in the city following the DOH’s comments on it.
“The situation may worsen and we don’t want to be caught unprepared,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
National Epidemiology Center Director Enrique Tayag told council members last Thursday that dengue cases in the city are already “alarming” and “unusual” but have not yet reached epidemic proportions. So, there is no need to declare the city under a state of calamity.
Osmeña told reporters he does not want to wait for matters to go out of control before responding to the threats of dengue.
He said that instead of issuing counterproductive statements, the DOH should consider the enormous amount of medical expenses involved in treating dengue patients and the amount of blood needed for critical cases.
“I am concerned because these patients are below the poverty level... We don’t need DOH’s support on this but they should not make it appear it’s not alarming because we need people to be alarmed to be able to solve this,” he added.
Osmeña lamented that it’s difficult to address the dengue problem because of inadequate response from the public, who also refuse to heed preventive measures suggested by the CHD.
Anti-dengue chemicals, equipment and medicines will not solve the problem, he said, but would only buy the City Government time in addressing the situation. (LCR)
(August 13, 2005 issue)
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