PAMPANGA’S own provincial health officer has been the first frontline casualty of the dreaded coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the province.
Dr. Marcelo Jaochico died Tuesday night, March 24, from Covid-19 according to a post by his daughter Cielo Jaochico.
Sources said Dr. Jaochico was the patient who figured in a trending video on social media. The video which circulated last March 18, showed a patient being rushed into an ambulance from a hospital in Guagua town by medical personnel who wore personal protective equipment.
Dr. Jaochico was later brought to the Jose B. Lingad Memorial Regional Hospital in the City of San Fernando.
Dr. Marcelo Jaochico was part of the inter-agency taskforce responsible for the Covid response in Pampanga.
Jaochico has a degree in Zoology from the University of Santo Tomas (UST). He later took a medical degree at the Angeles University Foundation (AUF) in Angeles City. He had a Master’s Degree in Hospital Administration which he took at University of the Philippines Manila, College of Public Health and finished as Cum Laude. He then became a resident at the Manila Medical Center and teaching as a substitute instructor in Emilio Aguinaldo College to make ends meet.
He first served as a Doctor to the Barrios during the 1990s, and in 2013, started to serve as public health officer for the Province of Pampanga.