City allocates P2M for anti-dengue drive
Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog said there is no need to place the city under the state of calamity following the decrease in the number of dengue cases this month.
Mabilog said the P2 million allocated by the city for its anti-dengue campaign would be enough to address the problem.
He said that once the city is placed under a state of calamity, all 180 barangays are also entitled to get their five percent calamity fund which he fears might be used for something else.
“We don’t want to place this city under calamity. We expect more typhoons in the following months and we need to have enough calamity funds,” he told reporters.
Mabilog said once the budget is approved, the amount will be used to purchase medicines and equipment and for the payment of blood processing and financial aid for patients.
In August, only 30 dengue cases and nine deaths were recorded by the Iloilo City Health Office compared to last month’s 321 cases and three deaths.
From January to present, 387 cases and 13 deaths have been documented.
Dengue fever is transmitted by Aedes egypti and Aedes albopictus, day-biting mosquitoes that breed in clear, stagnant waters.
BLOOD DONORS
Meanwhile, Mabilog is calling for more blood donors for dengue patients.
We are targeting 100 donors every month to sustain the need, he said.
The city government has also launched its bloodletting program the other day to make blood available anytime.
Around 18 donors qualified in the screening, mostly city employees.
“This is a continuous program and we will conduct bloodletting activity every month so that we have more reserved blood for future use,” the mayor said.*
