P22M allotted to 'medical surveillance' in Guimaras
The national government has alloted P22 million to the Department of Health (DoH) for the medical surveillance to be conducted by the National Poison Management and Control Center in the island-province of Guimaras as the battle for hydrogen sulfide free air and other volatile organic compounds is still on going.
The budget is intended for the 46 medical surveillance undertakings set forth in the island-province. Fund will also include the capacity building, detection of disease among others. The conduct of the medical surveillance is being pushed by the National Poison Management and Control Center as a follow-up of the recent study they made in the affected barangays in Guimaras. The budget is set to be released in March 2007.
A team from the National Poison Management and Control Center was in Iloilo Thursday and set to visit Guimaras. DOH Undersecretary Ethelyn Nieto is also with the group. They gave media briefings Thursday on the result of the study the center had conducted in September 2006.
The center recommended that an immediate follow-up of residents with abnormal physical and laboratory findings be conducted, establish an effective medical surveillance system to monitor the long term effects of bunker oil on the exposed residents and same time strengthen the technical capabilities of the health care providers in addressing toxicologic health issues related to the oil spill.
The center also wants to ensure the provision of the necessary medical interventions and maintain a multidisciplinary, multi-sectoral approach in the conduct of the surveillance system and rehabilitation programs.
DOH regional director Lydia Depra Ramos said they have spent P5 million in their undertakings in the island when the oil spill took place and affected number of families. Of the P5 million, P2 million was spent for medicine, P1 million for the protective gear of the residents and P2 million for the support fund.
Ramos said "everything is in place" and they are not caught flat-footed during the oil spill as they were able to respond immediately to the needs of the affected residence particularly to those barangays in Nueva Valencia.
However, Ramos's statement contradicted with the statement of Usec Nieto, who admitted that the department was ready in all cases such as earthquake, typhoons, mud flows and other calamities that struck the country but not with oil spill.
All the national government agencies panicked because of the gravity of the effects that it will cause not only to the people and same time to the environment. The national agencies have explored all possibilities to address the problem.
The USEC also said they have learned from the Guimaras oil spill case and should there be another case of oil spill they know how to handle.