THE Iloilo City Government has appealed for additional allocations as 14,000 vaccine supplies against Covid-19 will only last a week up to June 23, 2021.
“We are doing well with our vaccination rollout. Thus, we humbly ask for more vaccine allocation for the high-risk senior citizens, religious leaders, and economic frontliners,” Mayor Jerry P. Treñas stressed.
Treñas wrote Department of Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III who also chairs Inter-Agency Task Force and Vaccine Czar Carlito G. Galvez Jr., also the National Task Force Against Covid-19 chief implementer.
The metropolis got a total of 34,524 single-dose vials Sinovac and 1,688 10-dose vials or 16,880 doses AstraZeneca.
Some 8,000 have been fully vaccinated with two doses, while some 40,000 received their first dose and waiting for their second dose depending on prescribed intervals.
The city, with its orders to start arriving in July, targets to vaccinate 331,981 or 70 percent of 474,258 total population.
Treñas also requested urgent provisions of High Flow Oxygen Therapy (HFOT).
HFOT, a form of respiratory support used in the hospital where oxygen, often in conjunction with compressed air and humidification, is delivered to patient at rates of flow higher than the traditional procedure.
“On behalf of the City Government and the Ilonggos, we appeal for your kind consideration to provide support in terms of the following: PhilHealth reimbursement to all hospitals, medical supplies and equipment such as ventilators, medications such as Remdesivir and Tocilizumab, and deployment of more hospital personnel,” Treñas also reiterated the requests.
Surge of case admissions in Panay Island now overwhelmed hospitals and health care facilities in Iloilo City as regional center.
Medical professionals have raised concerns that “quality patient care has become compromised due to lack of medical supplies, manpower and funds.”
City Hall has hired additional nurses, nursing aides and utility workers but still not enough to augment the human resource requirement of hospitals.
It has also provided board and lodging for uniformed health personnel augmenting the hospitals, although they can be pulled out any time when their agencies need them.
“We can only do so much at the local level as we work closely together with all sectors. We are looking forward to immediate approval of this request as we continue to move as one towards recovery and healing,” said Treñas. (PR)