Negros LGUs urged anew to create monitoring for food, drinking water quality

Amid rising cases of water-borne diseases in Negros Occidental, Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson today called again on the 31 local government units in the province to create a Food and Drinking Water Quality Monitoring Committee or FDWQMC.

Lacson said there are only 11 LGUs who have created the body tasked to monitor the source of water in a locality.

“I will ask them through the president of the Negros Association of Chief Executives (ACE) to help encourage their members to comply,” the governor said.

Victorias City Mayor Javier Miguel heads ACE.

Lacson said his appeal will be contained in an executive order he will issue.

Data, presented during the meeting of the Provincial Health Board today, Nov. 2, showed that typhoid fever logged 623 cases with six deaths since it was first recorded in January 5, this year.

Typhoid fever has affected 29 LGUs already, the data indicated.

For acute gastroenteritis there were 457 cases and 11 LGUs affected, the report from the Provincial Health Office also showed.

Cholera cases recorded 20 cases with two deaths in five LGUs, it added.

Gov. Lacson has expressed concern over the rising typhoid cases in the province.

Dr. Ernell Tumimbang, provincial health officer, said the Sanitation Code mandates that all LGUs must create a water monitoring system.

In the case of the province, we included food also to cover both food and water, Tumimbang said.
Unfortunately, there are still many LGUs who have not created such a committee, he added.

Tumimbang attributed the rise in cases of water-borne diseases in the province to the lack of access to potable water supply and water sanitation and hygiene.

“It cannot be addressed by the health sector alone. It should he a multi- sectoral approache to solve the problem,” he said.* (EYA)