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Sunday, April 06, 2003
Ignore text messages of Sars in RP: Bunye
By Joshua Dancel
MANILA -- Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye on Saturday urged the public to ignore unfounded text messages flooding the air regarding the presence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) in the country.
Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal also tried Saturday to ease the public's fears about a pneumonia-like disease that has baffled doctors, saying there is no reason to panic because it is not yet certain the it has reached the Philippines.
Bunye in a press statement admitted that text messages on Sars are fostering unnecessary panic among the citizens.
He also urged the various media outfits not to add on the Sars hysteria by reporting unconfirmed Sars cases.
Bunye said there is not one single documented Sars case in the country, the reason the World Health Organization (WHO) did not include the country in its list of 19 countries already infected with the deadly pneumonia virus, a proof, he said, of the government's preparedness for the disease.
"However, this fact will not make us complacent. In fact, the President formed a Sars crisis management committee to combat this threat headed by the Department of Health coordinating with the Departments of Foreign Affairs, Labor, Trade and Industry and Transportation," Bunye said.
He said two medical facilities, San Lazaro Hospital and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), are now prepared to become the designated areas that would observe and treat any case of Sars, if ever a case appears.
"So, I think we should just ignore these text messages and I urge the media not to report unconfirmed cases to avoid any panic," Bunye said.
Pray, don't panic
Cardinal Vidal Saturday said the people should pray that God will spare us from Sars, which has claimed the lives of at least 81 people and afflicted over 2,270 people in 17 countries.
"We should not panic. We should instead pray for the Lord's protection," he said in an interview yesterday.
No Sars cases have been reported, so far, in Cebu or the Philippines, according to the Department of Health. But authorities have increased quarantine procedures in the country's airports and seaports to prevent the spread of the disease.
There is no known cure yet for Sars. Antibiotics have not worked.
The main symptoms are similar to flu: high fever (more than 38 degrees Celsius, headache, sore throat, dry cough, muscular stiffness and wheeziness. Some patients develop pneumonia.
Doctors in Cebu have been kept busy treating patients who think they are suffering from Sars.
Yesterday, Vidal offered the mass for the newly completed Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres Medical Specialty Center, a conjoint facility of Perpetual Succour Hospital equipped with the latest medical equipment.
The inauguration and blessing of the new medical specialty center followed the mass.
The Department of Nuclear Medicine, Cebu Cancer Institute and the Advanced Rehabcare and Sports Medicine Center are among the facilities in the center.
Dr. Mariano Tolentino, Perpetual Succour Hospital medical director, said the center has experts in almost all fields of medicine.
He recalled that Perpetual Succour began as a dilapidated clinic in 1936, a far cry from the tertiary hospital it has become now. (with Allan I. Varguez of Sun.Star Cebu)
(April 6, 2003 issue)
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