Two minors died of dengue fever last Dec. 22 at the Mactan Doctors’ Hospital, and a two-year-old child died at home in Sitio Humay-Humay, Barangay Gun-ob.
The eight-year-old son of City Councilor Junard “Ahong” Chan also spent six days at the intensive care unit of the Perpetual Succour Hospital in Cebu City because of dengue fever.
These cases alarmed Mayor Arturo Radaza and baffled Chan, who thought the campaign against dengue by the City Health Office was doing well after the City released last August P3.5 million for its anti-dengue program.
“I thought I would lose my son. I transferred him from Mactan (Doctors’) Hospital to Perpetual Succour and spent over P200,000 to save him. But before we left Mactan, two children died of the disease and I was told by a doctor that Lapu-Lapu City is among the cities with high cases of dengue,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
He said he is now committed to join the fight in preventing dengue after his son’s experience.
“We were very lucky because I happen to have money but what about those who don’t? This explains why a lot of people die from dengue,” he said in Cebuano.
The City released the P3.5 million upon the request of City Health Officer Rodulfo Berame to purchase 1,000 liters of DNAMaxx+2, a chemical that kills larvae and adult mosquitoes.
From January to July 2007, the City recorded 78 dengue cases. And for three succeeding months, there was no case reported.
In 2006, the City reported 146 persons who suffered from dengue fever.
Chan said there is an apparent need for the health office to update its data and he will file a resolution to this effect on Wednesday’s council session.
He said he will also urge health personnel to check all the hospitals in Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue and Cebu cities for any Oponganon patient.
He said the inspection should include private clinics in the city.
The use of fogging machine is discouraged in the city, but the health office resorted to it in Barangay Pajo, where Chan lives, after learning of his son’s case.
Victims Abayon, two, and Janil Marie Din, eight, were neighbors in Sitio Humay-Humay, Barangay Gun-ob. Din died at the hospital last Dec. 22, while Abayon died at home two days later.
The third fatality was a 17-year-old boy, who lived in a subdivision in Barangay Pajac and died on the same day as Din at the same hospital.
As of November last year, over 40,000 persons who had suffered from dengue fever were recorded nationwide, making 2007 the worst year so far in terms of case figures.
Mayor Radaza wants the information campaign against dengue to be conducted in every barangay. He also wants posters on the illness distributed in all public places.
He said health officials should coordinate with hospital authorities to determine how many Oponganons have actually contracted dengue fever. (AIV)
