MANILA – A total of 15 health facilities nationwide were damaged by Severe Tropical Storm Paeng's onslaught last week, a health official said Friday.
In a media briefing, Department of Health (DOH) officer in charge, Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, said these facilities are in Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Western Visayas, Soccsksargen, and Cordillera region.
“Wala namang tumigil ang operasyon sa kahit sa anong facility na naapektuhan na ito. All of these facilities are functional, nire-repair lang natin ‘yung minor damages sa kanila (Operations did not stop in these facilities. All of them are functional. We just repair minor damage),” she said.
Seven of the 15 damaged facilities are hospitals, six are barangay health stations, and two are rural health units.
“’Yung ating health care workers are always mobilized kapag meron tayong mga ganito na mga nangyayari like evacuating people, but basically and most especially, local health care workers ang talagang bumababa sa mga evacuation sites natin (Our health care workers are always mobilized when these happen, for instance evacuating people, but basically and most especially, it is the local health care workers who go to our evacuation sites),” Vergeire said.
The DOH regional offices and health emergency bureaus oversee such activities, deploying additional health care workers where they are needed.
Vergeire, meanwhile, said evacuation centers in Central Luzon have already de-camped.
“Sa Maguindanao, inaayos na lang ‘yung paglilipatan ng mga tao, (In Maguindanao, the relocation sites are just being prepared) but soon, according to our Undersecretary for Operations in Maguindanao, soon to decamp also towards this coming weekend,” she added. (PNA)
