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‘Interesting twist’

Health Workers

THE uphill battle against the deadly COVID-19 now has an “interesting twist,” with the announcement that health workers from the Visayas are willing to be deployed in the National Capital Region (NCR) and four adjacent provinces.

Note that hospitals and other medical facilities in the NCR, the country’s premier region, and the provinces of Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite and Laguna lack doctors and nurses because of the mushrooming number of COVID-19 patients in these areas.

Metropolitan Manila and the four Luzon provinces are under the crippling enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), the strictest quarantine measure and is effectively a total lockdown.

A brainchild of Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, the deployment of health workers from the Visayas to the “NCR Plus” is a “welcome development” in the fight against the pandemic.

Recipient hospitals will shoulder the accommodation, food and transportation needs of the volunteer health workers once they arrive in Metropolitan Manila.

On the other hand, the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) and the Department of Health (DOH) Regional Center for Health Development will shoulder their transfer to the NCR.

Go had earlier asked Presidential Assistant to the Visayas Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino to gather the island’s health workers, who are willing to to be deployed to the NCR Plus.

The workaholic senator’s initiative is aimed at helping augment hospital personnel in areas with high COVID-19 cases.

Senator Go, through OPAV, also asked the help of the Department of Health’s regional offices, local government units, Malasakit Center hospitals and Project Balik Buhay (PBB).

PBB is a private sector-led organization that helps the public sector cope with the challenges brought by the pandemic. Its members are owners of private hospitals and businesses in Cebu.

Health Secretary Francisco “Pingkoy” Duque III and National Task Force Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer Carlito Galvez welcomed Senator Go’s initiative.

Let’s show compassion to each other if we are to overcome the raging health crisis.