PLEASANT NEWS. Health officials of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao led by Dr. Safrullah Dipatuan (in blue shirt) on Friday (April 3, 2020) broke the good news to reporters (inset) in Cotabato City on the recovery of two out of six patients positive of the dreaded 2019 coronavirus disease at the Amai Pakpak Medical Center in Marawi City. Dipatuan said both recovered patients – PH490 and PH491 – had a travel history to Manila. (Photo by Albashir Saiden – PNA Cotabato)
COTABATO CITY – Two of the six coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) patients in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) have recovered and discharged from the hospital, the region’s Inter-Agency Task Force on Covid-19 said Friday.
Dr. Safrullah Dipatuan, BARMM-IATF co-chair and health minister, said the two patients identified as PH490, 56; and PH49, 61; both from Lanao del Sur, were earlier admitted at the Amai Pakpak Medical Center (APMC) in Marawi City due to the disease.
“Both discharged patients have travel history to Manila, they were discharged on Wednesday, April 1, after they tested negative for Covid-19,” Dipatuan said during a press briefing held here.
Dipatuan said all the six positive cases of Covid -19 in the BARMM are from Lanao del Sur. “Of the six, three died, two recovered, and one is still on strict home quarantine,” he said.
However, Lanao del Sur Governor Mamintal Adiong Jr. maintained that there is no existing local transmission in the province.
“All these positive cases have travel history to Malaysia and Manila, we do not have local transmission here,” Adiong said.
Currently, BARMM has a total of 7,584 Persons Under Monitoring (PUMs) and 228 Patients Under Investigation (PUIs).
Meanwhile, the BARMM is continuously conducting relief operations throughout the region to address the needs of constituents affected by the Covid-19 crisis.
On Thursday, relief workers from the region distributed a total of 5,200 relief packs to 12 barangays in Pigcawayan, North Cotabato.
The villages form part of the 63 communities in North Cotabato province that opted to join the fledging region during a plebiscite held in January 2019. BARMM IATF spokesperson Mohammad Asnin Pendatun said that the regional government is prioritizing PUIs, PUMs and senior citizens in the relief operations.
“We’d like to make sure that the most affected and vulnerable families will be served, especially now that many constituents lost their source of income due to this crisis,” Pendatun said.
Early on, the BARMM’s Ministry of Finance and Budget Management has released the PHP155-million intended to augment the local government units' quick response fund.
“We are just waiting for the LGUs proposals as to where and how they are going to spend the money, as soon as we have their proposals, we will download the fund to them,” Pendatun said.
Each of the five provinces of the BARMM will receive PHP5 million; PHP1 million for each of the 116 municipalities; PHP2 million each for the three cities; and PHP8 million for the 63 barangays in North Cotabato from the total augmentation fund. (With a report from Noel Punzalan/PNA)
