Official clarifies purpose of ambulance team; family asserts protocol violation

Screenshot from the video showing a team on board the ambulance of Barangay Felisa in Bacolod City not wearing personal protective equipment.
Screenshot from the video showing a team on board the ambulance of Barangay Felisa in Bacolod City not wearing personal protective equipment.

BACOLOD City Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran has clarified that the team on board the ambulance of Barangay Felisa was just supposed to inform the Dela Cruz family that their mother tested positive for coronavirus and that the extraction team from the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (DRMMO) or Emergency Operations Center (EOC) will arrive anytime so they can prepare ahead.

This is in reaction to a video posted by one of the family members from the said barangay, accusing the ambulance team of violating the health protocols by not wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) when getting a Covid-19 patient.

Familiaran, also the chair of the City Inter-Agency Task Force against Covid-19, said the family members did not believe that their mother has Covid-19, thus they reacted that way.

"When the extraction team arrived, they still showed unruly behavior. But when the police arrived, they cooperated," he added.

Emotions went high on the video, which was posted over the weekend. It is now making rounds on social media and has been gaining mixed reactions from netizens.

Some family members can be heard cursing the ambulance personnel who then went inside the medical service vehicle after noticing that they are being videoed.

The ambulance then was seen leaving the area.

Lennon Dela Cruz, who posted the video, said it is true that they were just informed that their mother tested positive for Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.

But for them, it is still a violation on the part of the barangay ambulance team to enter their house without wearing PPEs despite knowing that there is a Covid patient there.

Dela Cruz said they apologized to those who have watched the video, particularly on the curse words thrown by his parents.

"Si papa ko kaagi na stroke mo tapos my sakit pa na sya sa heart kag high blood na sa. Sa emosyon sang papa ko sir indi ya na guro mapunggan eh. Kag ngaa hadlok sila videohan [My father had suffered from stroke and he has high blood pressure. He can no longer hold his emotion. But, why they were afraid to be videoed]," he said.

Dela Cruz added "kag si mama ko naka pamuyayaw naman kay siyempre siya kuno ang positive. Ikaw bala baskog ka pa sa karbaw hambalon ka nga positive nd ka mangakig? Kag indi ni ya lahog-lahog nga issue nila samon sir. Grabe kahuya namun di sa palibot kay mga tawo daw na hadlok na samon [My mother cursed because she was informed to be Covid positive. Of course she will get mad to be called as positive of Covid-19 when in fact she is even stronger than a carabao. We are very shy, the people around us seemed afraid of us]."

But he said they have already talked with the barangay and that the family has even apologized if other persons were dragged into the issue.

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