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Thursday, May 22, 2003
Hospital cited for work on 1st RP Sars case
VILLASIS -- As the World Health Organization (WHO) removed the Philippines from its list of areas with recent local transmission of the Sars virus, Pangasinan health officials commended a hospital here for its efficient handling of the country's first case of atypical pneumonia.
If the Villasis Polymedic Hospital and Trauma Center had bungled the case of Adela Catalon, the first death from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) in the country on April 12, it is possible the disease would have spread in the province.
Department of Health (DOH) 1 Director Eduardo Janiero assured the hospital of assistance to enable it to recover from the stigma brought upon the facility by the Adela case.
The WHO relayed the news that it is removing the Philippines from its Sars list to Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit who is attending the UN organization's general assembly in Geneva, said Consorcia Quizon, head of the department's national epidemiology center.
A pleased President Arroyo, nevertheless, urged Filipinos to remain alert and to maintain good hygiene practices even with the removal of the country from the WHO Sars list.
"The delisting was very important to us," Quizon said over radio station dzBB in Manila.
She said it would cause certain countries that have banned Filipino workers due to fears of the Sars epidemic to lift the ban.
'Noble action'
The country has reported 12 Sars cases including two deaths, one imported and the other considered local transmission, but health officials said the disease has been contained by prompt and effective quarantine.
At the fourth year anniversary celebration of the Villasis Polymedic Hospital and Trauma Center on Tuesday, Pangasinan Gov. Victor Agbayani handed a plaque of commendation to the hospital for its "steadfast decision" and the "noble action" of its management and staff in attending to Adela's case and implementing the necessary precautions and measures to prevent the spread of the disease.
Adela, who was infected by her roommate's mother in Toronto, Canada where she worked as a nursing assistant, was first rushed the Villasis hospital before she was transferred to the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila. Adela's father Mauricio, who also later died of the illness, was considered the country's first local transmission.
Agbayani and Janiero did not say what assistance will be extended to the hospital, which is still being avoided by medical patients almost a month after it reopened since its staff had completed the quarantine period.
"We only get mostly trauma patients," Hospital Director Francisco Olivar said.
The family-owned hospital celebrated its fourth year anniversary Tuesday with free consultation and circumcision and blessing of the third floor, which will house the intensive care unit and hemodialysis section.
"We are supposed to inaugurate the third floor. But because we lack enough patients, we decided to postpone the inauguration and just hold the blessing now," Olivar said.
All healthy
The management presented the medical staff that attended to Catalon during her one-night confinement at the hospital before she was brought to San Lazaro where she died.
"See them, they're all healthy," Olivar told the people who attended the simple anniversary program.
The medical staff, including Catalon's doctor, suffered discrimination because they attended to Catalon. "Even tricycle drivers refused to ferry the nurses to the hospital," he added.
Governor Agbayani said the Sars cases in the province served as challenges to the health officials who fortunately were prepared to handle the problem.
"It is sad that the casualties are our provincemates, but since we triumph over the disease, we can teach others how to handle Sars cases," he added.
The governor later gave an undisclosed amount to the 12 medical health workers of Alcala, which is the hometown of the two Catalons, who helped monitor Barangay Vacante.
"It's just a token of our gratitude to the health workers who risked their lives and health in monitoring the village that was ordered isolated by DOH for two weeks," he said.
Sars situation
With the WHO decision, Quizon said she expects countries that have issued travel advisories against the Philippines over Sars to have no more reason to deter their citizens from visiting the country.
The WHO said in its Sars website that "the last probable case that was locally acquired (in the Philippines) was isolated on 30 April, meaning that opportunities for spread of the virus to others were significantly reduced."
"As 20 days have now passed with no further cases detected, WHO can safely conclude that local transmission has been interrupted."
It said five of the 12 Sars cases in the Philippines were "imported", with one of the five carrying the disease from Toronto and infecting seven others "in the only chain of secondary transmission that has occurred in the Philippines."
The index case, Adela, and her father were the only fatalities, it added.
"The Sars situation in the Philippines illustrates the scale of the emergency effort needed to respond effectively to an imported case and ensure that an outbreak is swiftly contained, keeping the number of secondary cases small."
WHO said: "The efficient surveillance and reporting system in the Philippines, which reflects strong political commitment and a high level of awareness among health staff, confers an additional level of assurance that no local transmission is now occurring."
As of Tuesday, the WHO has monitored 7,919 probable cases with 662 deaths from 28 countries. Sun.Star Pangasinan/AFP
(May 22, 2003 issue)
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We’re off Sars list; ‘no reason to relax’