Evacuation centers get more health workers

BACOLOD CITY — Following the deaths of two infants over the past two months, the Provincial Health Office (PHO) of Negros Occidental will deploy more health care personnel at evacuation centers in La Castellana, Negros Occidental.

Dr. Girlie Pinongan, provincial health officer, said that personnel from the PHO, Municipal Health Office, and the Department of Health Center for Health and Development in Negros Island Region will have respective schedules to ensure round-the-clock monitoring of health conditions of the evacuees.

A 9-month-old baby at the evacuation center in La Castellana, Negros Occidental was admitted at a nearby government hospital and died on Jan. 25, bringing to two the number of fatalities among residents affected by the Dec. 9, 2024 eruption of Kanlaon Volcano.

A 9-month-old male infant, a resident of Barangay Masulog in La Castellana, also succumbed to cardiopulmonary arrest due to acute gastroenteritis with severe dehydration in December.

Pinongan said that some evacuation centers are already congested which may trigger the spread of infectious diseases.

The Department of Health-Negros Island Region (DOH-NIR) and the PHO have launched an investigation into the incident.

The local government of La Castellana also admitted that health workers are swamped by the large number of evacuees and could not attend to everyone all the time.

In order to avoid a similar incident, the LGU has called on the evacuees to cooperate by seeking immediate medical assistance when ill and to avoid self-medication.

The DOH-NIR reported that as of Feb. 3, 2025, a total of 8,448 consultations and treatments have been conducted in the 20 different evacuation centers.

The agency also reported that six doctors, 43 nurses, 77 other medical staff with 14 technical staff have been deployed to the evacuation centers.

A total of 2,848 families composed of 9,084 individuals have been affected by the eruption of Kanlaon Volcano.