DAVAO CITY – The City Health Office (CHO) announced Tuesday that free medicines for leptospirosis and anti-tetanus shots are available for flood-affected residents at its district offices.
“Every health district has medicines for prophylaxis for leptospirosis," Dr. Tomas Miguel Ababon, the CHO officer-in-charge, said in a press briefing here, adding that the medicines are dispatched in emergency cases.
For the first two weeks of the month, CHO recorded 17 cases of leptospirosis with no related deaths recorded.
Ababon also added that tetanus toxoids, dressings, and antibiotics are available for free to those who are injured.
"The staff in our district are the first responders, they have medical supplies as a district," he said.
Meanwhile, the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) urged the barangays to be proactive in establishing disaster services.
Julie Dayaday CSWDO officer-in-charge, lauded the barangays that were able to proactively establish "community cooking" in light of the evacuation due to the flooding and landslide incidents last week.
"We appreciate barangays with emergency responses in place because of the wide area coverage, we cannot cover all,” Dayaday said in an interview.
At least 2,397 families or 8,555 individuals experienced flooding in the city from Jan. 18-19.
In the landslide incidents, around 59 families or 206 individuals were affected. (PNA)
