ABOUT 200 survivors in Barangay Duljo-Fatima received yesterday medicines from the Cebu City Government after falling ill at the relocation site for those left homeless by Thursday’s blaze.
The distribution followed the medical consultation conducted by five physicians of the City Health Department (CHD) found that most of the kids and adults were suffering from common colds.
“Thankfully, no one needed hospitalization. We were able to give medicines upon consultation. We will conduct another consultation today to monitor their health situation. We’re hoping that the situation will stay manageable in the next weeks and that no disease will break,” CHD spokesperson Kenneth Siasar told Sun.Star Cebu in a phone interview yesterday.
The attending doctors found common colds as the ailment with the most number of affected individuals, with 27 kids and 15 adults.
Other ailments observed to be common among children were fever, chicken pox and skin rash.
Adults
The adults, on the other hand, were found to be in need of medication for hypertension, punctured wounds, flu, diarrhea, eye and ear infection, sore throat and allergic reaction.
One woman was also found to have experienced vaginal spotting, but was given immediate medication by CHD.
Siasar explained that the ailments were brought about by various factors, such as stress and the environment.
Given the large number of people sharing a common environment over a long period of time, a cross-contamination of microorganisms is inevitable.
As part of its preventive measures, the CHD distributed multivitamins and food supplements to boost the displaced individuals’ immune systems.
“We can’t really do anything about the environment taking its natural course, but we’re looking for partners as of the moment. Our target is to provide them with protein-rich food,” Siasar said.
Inspection
The CHD will also conduct regular inspections and consultations in the coming days in the relocation site at San Nicholas Elementary School to immediately respond to the survivors’ medical needs.
Siasar clarified that, despite the ailments, the survivors’ physical conditions are manageable and nothing serious was diagnosed.
For his part, Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he has already signed the executive order (EO) doubling the P10,000 cash aid for totally burned houses.
The mayor first made his announcement last October after 144 families were displaced by a fire that razed their houses in Barangay Suba.
However, the EO, which will also cover previous incidents in the city, has yet to be issued.
In a previous interview, Osmeña said the City Government has enough reserves in its calamity fund to support the cash aid hike.
“I’m not using this calamity fund for stupid expenses. It should go to the real victims. P10,000 is already too small, so we’ll double it. If we’ll make it too big...there are so many fires in the city. We need to balance it out,” he said.