THE dengue hemorrhagic fever has claimed 18 lives in Iloilo since January this year and there is no stopping to its rising trend unless and until the people’s “power” is applied.

So starting June 6 and every Saturdays thereafter, there will be a simultaneous clean-up in 42 municipalities and one component city in the province targeting the possible breeding sites of dengue-carrying mosquitoes.

There will also be fogging or space spraying to kill the adult vector mosquitoes in identified dengue hotspots or villages with clustering of two or more dengue cases.

Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. announced this to the press after his emergency meeting with the municipal health officers and members of the League of Municipalities in Iloilo in Casa Real de Iloilo yesterday, June 4.

He said the Department of Health’s 4S Kontra Dengue, a prevention campaign that has been ongoing for decades, must be operationalized, heightened, and sustained.

The four “S” stands for Search and destroy breeding places, self-protection measures, seek early consultation and say yes to indiscriminate fogging.

He also intends to issue an executive order seeking the declaration of the state of calamity due to the outbreak. The executive order will be passed to the Provincial Board for scrutiny and approval.

Records from the Hospital Management Office (HMO) revealed that there are 590 dengue patients confined in the 12 district hospitals as of Thursday, July 4, and bulk of these patients (100) are in Iloilo Provincial Hospital in Pototan town.

Based on his consultation with HMO and Provincial Health Office, Defensor said he will resort to emergency purchase of additional supplies of intravenous fluids and medicines needed by the hospitals since the actual supplies are expected to last for only two weeks.

He also emphasized that the administration of dengue diagnostic test for detection of the disease in district hospitals and treatment of dengue patients are for free to indigent patients.

From January 1 until June 28, 2019, Iloilo has a total of 3,897 cases

wherein 18 have died. The total figure is 788 percent higher compared last year’s 439 cases with two deaths.

The municipalities with the most number of cases are Pototan (376 with 2 deaths), Passi City (317 with 1 death), Calinog (252), Concepcion (214 with 4 deaths), Cabatuan (181 with 1 death), Lambunao (161 with 1 death), Ajuy (153), Carles (132), Janiuay (128) and Sta. Barbara (126). (PR)