MORE NURSES FOR NCR Plus. Thirty nurses from Central Visayas are bound to the National Capital Region Plus (NCR Plus) as part of the region's commitment to help hospitals overwhelmed by rising Covid-19 cases. Office of Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino (inset) on Friday (April 16, 2021) led the send-off ceremony in Cebu City. (Photo courtesy of OPAV)
CEBU CITY – Thirty nurses from Central Visayas (Region 7) comprised the second batch of volunteers for deployment to the National Capital Region (NCR) for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) response, the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) on Friday said.
In a statement, OPAV said the nurses underscored their sense of patriotism and the desire to help fellow Filipinos suffering due to Covid-19 crisis.
Twenty of these nurses will be assigned to the National Center for Mental Health in Mandaluyong City and the remaining 10 will be deployed to the Las Piñas General Hospital and Satellite Trauma Center.
OPAV chief, Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino, led the ceremonial send-off of the second batch of healthcare workers.
“True to our promise of sending at least 100 medical front-liners from the Visayas to augment the health care capacity of NCR+ hospitals, today we are sending off yet again, 30 nurses. I thank you all for coming forward and volunteering to help our brothers and sisters up in the north. Truly a selfless and heroic gesture when our country and our people need you,” Dino told the front-liners during a ceremony at the Montebello Villa Hotel here.
He said the decision to send to NCR+ volunteers from the Visayas (was) due to the request of Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, the chair of the Senate Health Committee, and guidance from President Rodrigo Duterte.
The deployment was anchored on the fact that Cebu was once labeled as the epicenter of the Covid-19 crisis in the country where hospitals had been filled with symptomatic coronavirus patients, health care system was exhausted and life-saving resources became scarce, Dino added.
“At this point I would also like to thank my friends in the private sector for responding to my call and rendering as much help as they can in this undertaking. I’d like to specially mention our Project Balik Buhay chairman Edmun Liu and co-chair Kenneth Cobonpue, who have been giving their precious time and effort to hasten our recovery. From mass testing to our temporary treatment and monitoring facilities, then the Visayas Covid-19 Vaccination Operations center, and still they are with us in our efforts in giving assistance to NCR+,” he said in his message to the front-liners.
The provincial and city governments of Cebu have committed to give the volunteers additional allowances of PHP5,000 and PHP10,000 per month, respectively, to reward them for their volunteerism and bravery.
The provincial government will also provide the front-liners with vitamins and air purifiers.
After their three-month stint there, the Capitol will also give PHP10,000 each to the volunteers.
Dino said OPAV and Project Balik Buhay are also adding PHP5,000 monthly for each of the volunteers deployed to NCR+.
He cited the assistance from the Department of Health-Central Visayas led by its regional director, Jaime Bernadas, and the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center led by Dr. Gerardo M. Aquino Jr. for heeding the call of Senator Go to help the NCR+ in the Covid-19 response.
“We will continue to support this initiative of Senator Bong Go and the directive of President Duterte, and continue to support NCR+ as much as we can,” Dino said.
Meanwhile, the volunteer nurses refuted claims from certain camps they are forced to serve in the capital region and nearby places.
Princess Diane Antolihao, a nurse from Compostela, Cebu, explained that she was once deployed to Bacolod City as a volunteer and this will be the second time that she volunteered for deployment.
“Sa una, I find it overwhelming nga maka help sa isig ka tawo nato. That’s the reason why ni volunteer ko karon (Based on my previous experiences, I find it overwhelming to be able to help our fellowmen. That’s the reason why I volunteered again),” Antolihao said. (PNA)
