Palawan continues to await the test results on four persons under investigation (PUI) for possible coronavirus disease (COVID-19), as the national central testing laboratories struggled to catch up on its backlogged tests.
The Department of Health (DOH) Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (RESU) said Tuesday that 4 PUIs test results from the province are still pending from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).
“Sa ngayon, RITM at San Lazaro tayo [naka-assign]. Hopefully, kapag may malapit sa atin na nakalevel-5 na sa accreditation, more or less mapapalapit tayo like Batangas,” said Geraldine Perez, health education and promotion officer of the DOH.
Meanwhile, Dr. Mary Ann Navarro, provincial health officer (PHO), said that the hospitals, which admitted PUIs for testing send their request directly to the DOH office.
“[The hospitals in the city, including] Adventist Hospital, MMG-PPC Cooperative Hospital, and Ospital Ng Palawan direct their request to the provincial DOH. Pinapadala ng province by plane and pick up ng DOH [officer] sa airport at dinadala sa RITM or San Lazaro. ‘Yong official results directly email to hospital din,” Navarro explained on how the samples were forwarded.
The province of Palawan now tracks some 3 admitted PUIs and 73 PUIs under strict home quarantine, bringing the total to 76 as of 3 p.m., March 30.
Barangay Health Emergency Response Team (BHERT) was tasked to “strictly monitor the status of the PUI under home quarantine, who maintains to show no symptoms.
“Tayo ay may close coordination sa mga barangay officials. Under BHERT, sila ang nagmomonitor or sa kanila i-rerefer ang [patient] pag magka-symptoms. Then si BHERT ang mag-iinform sa health worker,” Perez added.
The city government of Puerto Princesa recently identified a certain hotel that will house asymptotic PUIs. Meals and accommodations will be provided for free while medical personnel were tasked to monitor strict compliance of the quarantine protocol set by the City Health Office (CHO).
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