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Thursday, September 14, 2006
Health office says no official findings yet on boy's death in Guimaras
CONTRARY to recent news reports, the Department of Health (DOH) in Western Visayas said there are no official findings yet conducted on the body of the boy who died of an asthma attack in Guimaras last Aug. 28.
Assistant Regional Director Ed Gonzaga said their office confirmed the death of two-year-old Alejandro Castillo of Naoway island in Sibunag, Guimaras but belied reports that the death was caused by the bunker fuel fumes.
"There is a possibility that the death might have been aggravated by the fumes but it is not the cause of his death. We only based on the medical history of the child. He was born asthmatic," Dr. Gonzaga said.
But he said there is no official findings yet as to the real cause of the death of the boy.
"If we said the fumes aggravated the condition of the boy it does not necessarily mean it was already the cause of the death of the boy," Gonzaga stressed.
He said they are still processing the result of the blood samples taken from residents of oil spill affected communities in Guimaras.
"We cannot make any pronouncement yet as we are still processing the laboratory examinations of the blood and urine samples we have taken," Gonzaga said when asked as to the health status of the residents.
Dr. Ma. Sophia Pulmones, of the health department said the real cause of the death of the child can be determined through blood samples taken from his body or from autopsy.
"But there was no autopsy yet conducted on the body," Dr. Pulmones said. She said the boy was in a high-risk category because of his tender age and his asthmatic condition. "Those in the high-risk category are children, elderly, pregnant women, and those individuals with respiratory illness," Pulmones said.
She said the boy had two of these characteristics - a child and asthmatic -- which made him susceptible to any kind of odor allergies.
But Pulmones said most of the residents in the area they have surveyed do not have the same condition as the boy.
"We reiterate our advisory of avoiding frequent contacts to the 100-meter radius near the affected barangays," Pulmones said.
The toxicology examination result on urine samples taken from residents and coastal cleanup workers will be available in the next two weeks, Pulmones said.
The result of blood samples examination will take longer and the interpretation of the results of the examinations of the air is still undergoing analysis.
Six medical teams from the University of the Philippines and the Department of Health arrived in Guimaras last week and conducted examinations on the residents' health status.
"We did not see anyone who might be predisposed to any disease or medical condition as of the two-year old boy. There have been no diagnosed severe respiratory illness among the residents so far and all are safely taken cared of in the municipal hospitals and care centers in Guimaras." Pulmones concluded.
PPES
Meanwhile, the Task Force Oil Spill (SOS) has reiterated that the "No Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), No work" policy and adherence to protective requirements should be observed by all workers in the oil spill areas.
The Department of Health said the PPEs are very important as they can minimize exposure to hazards. In the use of the PPE, it is important that a "buddy system" approach should be adapted whereby the other partner checks their partner for correctness of use of PPEs and vice versa.
At the end of the use of the PPEs, these should be disposed of properly and all new PPEs are recommended for each work session.
To safeguard the health of those who are involved in the clean up, the Department of Health said that workers should properly be apprised of the health risks related to the oil spill clean up.
The registry of all cleaners should not only include basic data but also baseline health status of the worker at the time they are hired.
A regular medical evaluation of the worker should also be made up to six months after the worker has stopped doing the clean up.
Maximum daily exposure of the workers per day, according to the DOH should not exceed five hours. Having the workers clean on a rotation basis, with different teams working in the mornings and afternoons, could do this.
Age limits have also been set for the cleaners, that they should not be less than 20 and not more than 50 years old so they can adequately perform their assigned tasks.
According to Secretary Rafael Coscolluela, Incident Commander for Task Force Oil Spill (SOS) they are also however carefully reviewing on a case-to-case basis to see which barangays do not need very stringent protective measures because of the vastly improved conditions.
(September 14, 2006 issue)
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