Toril ice plants closed down; diarrhea cases plateaued
MULTIPLE violations of the Sanitation Code have been cited against the two ice plants in Toril that led to their closure, said the Davao City Health Office.
“Daghan sila’g violation (They have multiple violations) so we decided to close it down and we canceled their license,” Lopez said.
According to PD No. 856, ice plants should make sure that: only potable water shall be used in the manufacture of ice, in storing and transporting ice intended for public consumption; precautionary measures shall be taken to protect the ice from sources of contamination.
Lopez said the water that was used by the two plants did not pass the Sanitation Code of the Presidential Decree (PD) No. 856, under the requirements in doing such business.
CHO said they are going to submit the report to their legal team.
The two ice plants were closed down immediately after results of the investigation conducted by the CHO showed their ice was positive with bacteria.
“Nagkuha me og sample sa mga ice and they turned out to be positive findings after the analysis that was done. We conduct the investigation [and] nakabalo me asa ang source of the water nga gihimo nila’g ice (We got samples from the ice and it turned out that it is positive with bacteria, we also found out their water source for making their ice),” Dr. Ashley Lopez, CHO-Davao Head, said in an interview with the Davao City Disaster Radio on July 25.
Lopez said samples were taken in connection to the diarrhea outbreak in Toril that has affected several residents and even killed some.
“Kabalo naka Tapioca, salad, orange juice, apil man na sa pagbaligya sa street food, wala kay pantulak di matuk-an pud ka sigeg kaon og barbeque (As we all know if it is very present [ice] in all street food and if you’re not going to drink you’ll get choke eating barbeque),” Lopez said.
Lopez did not release the names of the two ice plants due to an ongoing investigation.
Meanwhile, the CHO said that the ongoing diarrhea cases in Toril have now plateaued two weeks after its outbreak.
Lopez said that there now has 261 reported cases but new patients and barangays affected have subsided.
Lopez said that there are now 74 patients or 40 percent have recovered, 26 patients (10 percent) are for verification, and 183 active cases. While the age range is from 6 months-71 years old, and most are female.
Lopez said from 90 admitted patients it went down to 53 patients (20 percent) and from 21 reported barangays, it went down to 18 affected areas as of July 24. These are Alambre, Bangkas Heights, Baracatan, Bato, Binugao, Camansi, Catigan, Crossing Bayabas, Daliao, Daliaon Plantation, Eden, Lizada, Lubogan, Marapangi, Mulig, Sirawan, Toril Proper, and Tungkalan.
While outside of Toril, affected barangays are Bago Aplaya, Baliok, Dumoy and Talomo Poblacion.
However, Lopez reported the death of the 23-year-old male, a swabber of the CHO who had died on July 24.
Lopez said the patient went to Toril Public Market and bought tapioca with his friends who also manifested the same symptoms.
Lopez said the cause of death was amoebiasis as recorded by the St. John Hospital to which the patient was admitted and died. However, Lopez said the final diagnosis of the patient's death is acute kidney failure, secondary to severe dehydration and electrolyte imbalance secondary to food poisoning.
The three deaths recorded last week are of a 10-year-old boy who died due to severe dehydration, a 67-year-old female who died due to complications from diarrhea, and a 32-year-old male teacher from Surigao who died due to acute renal failure which was attributed to dehydration, after his 24-hour admission to the Southern Philippines Medical Center.
Lopez said the City Government of Davao will assist the bereaved families as well as the victims of the diarrhea outbreak.
Lopez said the investigation is still ongoing and they will not release a result until the full result of the testing is done. KSD