Health authorities urge public to get vaccinated, ask nursing graduates to apply

Health authorities urge public to get vaccinated (File photo)
Health authorities urge public to get vaccinated (File photo)

HEALTH authorities called on the public to get vaccinated after the majority of recorded coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) deaths are those unvaccinated.

Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) medical chief Dr. Gerardo Aquino revealed that the majority of the Covid-19 deaths in their hospital were unvaccinated.

According to Aquino, all the recorded five mortalities as of July 28, 2021 are unvaccinated.

He said that while some of the cases admitted at VSMMC have been fully vaccinated, most of those admitted are unvaccinated.

He said that based on their hospital data, there were 113 confirmed Covid-19 patients admitted to their hospital. Of this number, 94 are unvaccinated.

"Proven man gyud nga importante ang vaccination aside from observing the minimum health protocols nato. Everybody really is enjoined nga magpa-vaccinate," said Aquino.

However, he said that getting vaccinated does not mean one is 100 percent protected from getting infected, especially if they are exposed to a high viral load.

"But the difference man gud kung bakunado ka, either asymptomatic ka or mild ra imong mga symptoms compared to those unvaccinated. Naay big possibility nga you go to the either moderate, severe, or critical (if you’re unvaccinated)," the Aquino said.

He also advised the public to get whatever vaccine is available since it is the best vaccine.

As of July 29, VSMMC's total census for Covid-19 cases is at 22 percent while the remaining are non-Covid cases.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH) 7 together with the private sector has urged nursing graduates to apply for the opening of nurses to meet the requirement in the region.

DOH 7 Director Dr. Jaime Bernadas has asked the help of the health departments of the different local government units to help them in hiring more nurses for the region.

Bernadas said that presently, there is no need to ask the National Government for assistance in terms of deployment for nurses.

He said that the region has more than enough nurses but are reluctant to apply because of the current pandemic.

He asked nurses, especially nursing graduates, to apply and practice what they have studied for this is the time when they are needed the most.

"We are harnessing our resources for now because we still have a lot of nurses in our area. We just got to convince them to join us because a lot of them have been already tried for recruitment but a lot of them has refused to do so," he said during his weekly press briefing Monday, August 2.

Bernadas said that there was an initial commitment of 500 nurses, but there were difficulties in deploying these nurses to the private hospitals.

The Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) together with the Project Balik Buhay has recently announced the Salary and Bonus Assistance for Our Bidas Program (Salbabida).

Salbabida, a program initiated by OPAV, with the collective generosity of the PBB Private Sector Foundation-Partners aims to hire nurses for the 11 private hospitals in Cebu.

Under the said program, hired nurses will receive an incentive of P15,000 monthly for August and September and free rt-PCR tests every two weeks.

As of July 31, Central Visayas has recorded a total of 62,917 confirmed Covid-19 cases since the start of 2021.

Based on DOH 7's data, the most affected age range is at 21 to 30 years old.

Bernadas said that the National Government has promised additional allocation of Covid-19 vaccines this month and in September for areas with the most number of Covid-19 surges, like Cebu. (PR)

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