Dr. Fia Atencio, a government doctor, has posted a comment on her personal Facebook account reacting to a Palawan News story published on Sunday entitled “Quarantined city residents sharing rooms in isolation facilities” (https://palawan-news.com/quarantined-city-residents-sharing-rooms-in-isolation-facilities/)
As her comment was specifically addressed to Palawan News, we are publishing her post in full. (https://www.facebook.com/100001599879323/posts/3133338300062802/?d=n)
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To my dear Palawan News.
Idifferentiate muna natin ang facilities.
A. ISOLATION FACILITIES are used for symptomatic patients mild, moderate or severe. These are used to ISOLATE patients from all human beings including their families. It could be hospital or the PUI facility.
B. QUARANTINE facilities are for asymptomatic individuals but has SIGNIFICANT exposure.
C. COVID facility is for anyone who has confirmed COVID infection but do nkt warrant hospitalization.
The one you posted is our ISOLATION facility which is our existing PUI facility. Mukhang napulot niyo pa sa IMT pics ang CCTV picture kasi wala kahit pasyente ang nakakapunta sa nurse station. Yes we have rooms with double bed. Kasi yan po ang dating ayos ng hotel as it was only a converted it into a PUI facility. But double bed doesnt always mean dalawa ang occupancy na magkaibang tao at exposure.
Again, not always, why? Sa PUI facility, nagagamit ang double bed when we admit a PUI pregnant na may anak at may caregiver. Nagagamit din sa Senior with care giver, or sa isang pedia na may caregiver. Nahagamit din yan sa dalawang magkaibang tao pero magkasama na mismo sa exposure gaya ng manginhisda na parehas na sinipon na pafehas lang ang bangka na sinakyan. I hope it enlightens you.
We did not asked them waiver na hindi sila magsasabi sa labas ng nangyayati sa loob. We ask them to sign waiver na kapag nilabas nila at inexpose nila ang sarili nila sa labas, at nagkalat dahil sa careless act nila at sila ay nadiscriminate, wala na kami kasalanan because they were the ones who exposed themselves. We had many experiences already, na kami ang nasisisi for their exposure where in fact may iba na sila mismo ang nagtetext sa labas ng info at whereabouts nila.
We do have double accomodation for LSIs in a hotel room. Magasawa, magkaibgan, magkasama sa trabaho, (in short same exposure). Our hotels are for No symptoms na ang Rapid tests ay nonreactive. In short we test prior to putting them sa room. Pareparehas din sila ng exposure sa isang lugar na pinaggalingan nila iisang airport and iisang plane. RETURNING OFW stays alone in a room kasi iba iba sila ng bansang pinanggalingan so mas precaution tayo dun.
Maraming hotels oo, but not all of them commits to the service and it isnt just salpak lang ng salpak sa hotel because before opening a hotel, all staffs of the hotel must first be oriented and briefed sa proper infection control protocol or else sa hotel mismo magkakalat ang virus. You may ask our hotel partners about our orientation and briefing sa kanila.
We are expecting thousands of LSIs and ROFs.
We had only just begun. We are continuously imrpoving our protocols.
PUERTO lang ba ang naiistrain? Arent other Cities, and Municipalities beinh strained too? Sa totoo lang, we were very careful to the process from the time they arrived to the time mailagay sila sa room. All personnels extracting them were in full PPE not onky to protect ourselves but so that we wont be transfering the Virus outside the community also. They were all screened with RDT and all reactives were extracted to be placed in other facilities for early containment of the probable infection. No cities nor municipalities were ever ready for these. Kami mang mga doctor hindi handa. So sino ang perfectly ready?
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(Editors’ note: The photo we used for the story was a file photo released by City Information Officer Richard Ligad. Our report stating that some of the quarantined individuals have been sharing rooms was based on information from direct sources. At least one of our sources claims that he does not personally know his room mate, and that they did not come from one place as stated by Dr. Atencio. Palawan News stands by the credibility of its information, supported by photographs not used in the story as requested by sources. – The Editors, Palawan News)
