DAVAO CITY — At least five doctors, three nurses and 42 more were tested positive with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Davao region.
DOH- XI recorded 11, 453 persons under monitoring (PUM) as of 6pm, March 30. Their average age ranges from 21 to 72 years old.
Department of Health Director Annabelle Yumang on Tuesday’s press conference revealed as of last Sunday, “We do not have casualty but we have workers na nag-positive, 5 doctors and three nurses”.
But Dr. Leopoldo Vega, chief of the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) immediately quantified “three of those tested positive are not from SPMC)”.
As of March 30, 2020; Yumag said 50 were tested positive with six deaths. Of the fifty positive, 11 have exposure to New Matina Gallera.
As of March 30, Dr. Cleofe Tabada said some 65 PUIs were admitted at SPMC while Davao Regional Medical Center (Tagum City) has 26, who are awaiting results.
Dr. Vega said “SPMC has documented five (5) recoveries.
The medical practitioners at the SPMC who were tested positive broke the protocol, Vega revealed, “When they resuscitate the patient, they failed to wear the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).”
Because of the incident, Vega revealed, “So, the mindset now is to treat every patient na baka may COVID, all people that come around, the mindset should be — they are infected.”
All frontliners at the SPMC were tested “at the average 50 each day to give them the confidence that they are negative and to make sure that nobody is handicapped.”
The health authorities said the machine at the SPMC has been validated by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) which means they can do the testing now and they can get results in two days.-Editha Z. Caduaya
