THE Department of Health - Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (DOH-Resu) Davao said that three more health workers tested positive for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Davao Region to 11.
Dr. Cleo Fe Tabada, head of the DOH-Resu Davao, said in a virtual presser that as of Thursday, April 2, the three additional health workers were directly taking care of Covid-19 patients or patients under investigation. This brings the total number of health workers who are Covid-19 positive to 11.
Tabada did not mention what facility they came from but she mentioned that it’s a government institution. There are only two hospitals in the region identified as Covid-19 centers namely Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) in Davao City and Davao Regional Medical Center (DRMC) in Tagum City.
On Tuesday, DOH Davao revealed that there are at least eight health care workers who tested positive, including five doctors and three others.
Dr. Lenny Joy Rivera, Assistant Regional Director of DOH Davao clarified that some of these healthcare workers who tested positive had travel history before the quarantine and then manifested signs and symptoms later on; while some had close contact with an infected patient.
“Before pa kasi meron tayong mga patients coming into our ERs (Emergency Room) and different hospitals ‘yon po yata ang mga naging reasons. With the measures that we are taking right now, we’re hoping na mag le-less po ang ating mga health workers na ma-contaminate,” Rivera said.
To ensure the protection of health workers, Rivera added that they continue with their support especially on the supply of personal protective equipment (PPEs) to Covid-19 referral centers.
DOH-Davao said they are on strictly implementing measures to protect the health workers from infection like wearing full PPE while attending to patients to prevent contamination which may affect the delivery of medical services.
For his part, SPMC chief Dr. Leopoldo Vega said they have started testing their frontline workers to ensure that they are not infected with Covid-19.
“Ginawa namin itong test na ito to make sure that all the frontliners are not handicapped by the disease. Mahirap naman na may frontliners doon and she doesn’t know kung na she is infected,” he said.
Since Monday, Vega said that they tested close to a hundred frontliners and most of them emerged negative from the Covid-19.