CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY--Newly-recovered Covid-19 patients are required to undergo counseling and continued monitoring from barangay health workers when integrating into their communities, the City Health Office (CHO) chief said Thursday.
Dr. Lorraine Nery, CHO acting head, said the rule is part of localized health protocols in dealing with Covid-19 recoveries handled by their Patient Management and Monitoring Team (PMMT).
"This is part of our reintegration (protocol) to the community, even the patients could not reach the standard 14-day quarantine period, but they already tested negative (of Covid-19), they are advised to continue the quarantine (in their residences)," Nery said.
Before the patients' transfer to their houses, Nery said barangay officials are briefed and counseled for better post-care management of recovered patients.
As of 10 p.m. Wednesday, CHO said the number of recoveries in the city has increased to 84 following the recovery of 10 more patients.
On the same day, the city's active Covid-19 cases stood at 53.
Nery said the number of recovered patients translates to a 58.7 percent recovery rate, based on the cumulative 143 positive cases since March.
Meanwhile, Mayor Oscar Moreno has asked for understanding from the patients still admitted at the city's care centers.
Moreno said the city will continue to adopt the policy of not discharging admitted patients if their results do not show they are already negative of the virus--even if they had already stayed beyond the 14-day quarantine period.
"They're still positive (of the virus). We will not take chances," he said.
Convalescent blood donation
Meanwhile, Dr. Bernard Julius Rocha of the Northern Mindanao Medical Center has called on Covid-19 survivors to donate blood to treat other patients using convalescent plasma.
Treatment using convalescent plasma has been used in different diseases, and medical professionals are hoping that the antibodies taken from the recovered patients will be transferred to the current patients.
"While we have a surge of cases, we also have more recoveries, and it's part of our armamentarium," Rocha said, adding that with blood plasma in stock will be added to their reserves in the hospital and can also be donated to other hospitals outside Northern Mindanao.
Rocha said that NMMC and the rest of the region were "blessed" to be given time to handle the surge of cases and to prepare for worst-case scenarios. (PNA)
