QUEZON CITY (PIA) — The Department of Health (DOH) has boosted its health and medical assistance in the ‘Kristine’-hit Bicol region with the deployment of additional 91 health workers and more medicines and equipment.
The department said 39 doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals are arriving via airlift at the Naga City General Hospital (NCGH).
Moreover, 52 other health workers have been deployed to the Bicol Region General Hospital and Geriatric Medical Center in Cabusao, Camarines Sur.
The DOH also said its ambulances with standard equipment, medicines, and supplies will join the convoy of passenger buses provided by the Department of Public Works and Highways.
The additional health workers were from the WHO-recognized Philippine Emergency Medical Assistance Teams from the Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital in Pampanga; the Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium in Manila; and the Eastern Visayas Medical Center in Tacloban City.
Health staff from the East Avenue Medical Center, Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center, San Lorenzo Ruiz General Hospital, Tondo Medical Center, and Valenzuela Medical Center also joined the deployment.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has also ordered the setting up of emergency field hospitals and the provision of medicines to the affected areas in the Bicol Region.
“Disaster response systems for health are working and in place. DOH joins the conveyor belt of aid directed by President Marcos Jr. to Bicol and elsewhere it is needed. We are serious when we say, ‘bawat buhay mahalaga’—wala talagang maiiwan,” said DOH Sec. Ted Herbosa. (PIA DMD)
