San Carlos Mayor acted based on local gov’t code in declaring state of health emergency

The head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office of the San Carlos government defended the action taken by Mayor Renato Gustilo in declaring a state of health emergency in the city.

Joe Alingasa clarified today that Gustilo coordinated with the Provincial Health Office who sent oral hygiene salts and hygiene kits to San Carlos City.

Alingasa said that under Republic Act 71-60 or the Local Government Code “it is the responsibility of the mayor to implement an initial response.”

“One of the reasons Mayor Gustilo declared state of health emergency was the rising cases of patients admitted at the San Carlos City Hospital that were confirmed to be amoeba cases that surpassed its bed capacity,”he pointed out.

While we respect the pronouncement of Acting Health Sec. Maria Rosario Vergeire that Gustilo should have coordinated first with the DoH central office, “the mayor is just performing his responsibility to stop the rising cases of amoeba.”

Vergeire said government policy is for the local government to first seek DOH guidance before declaring a state of emergency.

A team of epidemiologists from the Department of Health is reinforcing the DOH regional team dispatched in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, to help address cases of amoebiases in the concerned local government unit, DOH WV regional director Adriano Suba-an.

Suba-an said that the six epidemiologists from DOH central office who will be joining the DOH regional office team, were dispatched to San Carlos City on February 22.

Alingasa said there are now 16 health personnel in the city of which seven are from the regional office and nine arrived from the central office.

He said teams have been deployed to areas where there are many cases of gastroenteritis and amoebiasis to determine how far is the contamination.

As of Tuesday, there were 55 active cases in San Carlos City of which three are at the San Carlos Doctor’s Hospital and four at the San Carlos City Hospital, he said.

The remaining are home-managed, he added.

Alingasa also said there are two confirmed fatalities.

He added that all barangays in San Carlos have confirmed cases of amoeba and reached a peak of 469 cases covering February 1 to March 1 this year.* (EYA)