Department of Health (File photo)
MANILA – The Department of Health (DOH) has endorsed health facilities to government agencies in cases of water shortage and power outage amid the El Niño phenomenon.
In a news release Wednesday, the DOH said its government officials are working closely with national government agencies to ensure that healthcare services would not be disrupted.
“We have endorsed to partner national government agencies a list of health facilities with issues on water and energy security for guidance and possible agreement on the prioritization of these facilities in cases of water shortage and power outage,” Dr. Juan Javier Garchitorena of the DOH Health Emergency Management Bureau-Response Division said in a report to the Presidential Task Force on El Niño Response.
He said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Department of Energy and the Department of the Interior and Local Government have been notified of the list of healthcare facilities that encounter water and power issues.
The DOH is also working with all health facilities nationwide in assessing their El Niño preparedness and on improving their strategies and plans as El Niño peaks, he added.
On Sunday, Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said DOH hospitals are ready for El Niño and that “they will stay up and running despite anticipated power and water challenges as contingency plans are in place”.
Under Executive Order (EO) No. 53 signed on Jan. 19, 2024, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. directed the government to streamline, reactivate and reconstitute the old El Niño task forces under EO No. 16 (s. 2001) and Memorandum Order No. 38 (s. 2019).
Marcos instructed the task force to develop a comprehensive disaster preparedness and rehabilitation plan for El Niño and La Niña to provide “systematic, holistic, and results-driven interventions” to help the public cope and minimize their devastating effects. (PNA)
