FLORIDABLANCA, Pampanga —Governors and mayors in Central Luzon will be asked to attend a summit on the prevention of dengue from July 30 to 31as the region with some 10 million people recorded some 6,300 cases of the mosquito-borne disease in the first six months of 2012, including 11 deaths.
Dr. Leonita Gorgolon, Department of Health (DOH) regional director, said on Wednesday that the summit will focus on the destruction of the source of the dengue-carrying mosquito called aedes aegypti.
Gorgolon said that she was recently asked to attend a summit on dengue in Myanmar attended by leaders and health officials of other countries in Asia.
In the meeting, she added, the consensus was that “to seek and destroy the habitats of dengue-carrying mosquito is still the most effective way to stop the disease.”
“Of course, cleanliness of the surroundings in general is also a must,” added Gorgolon, who was interviewed during her visit to the Nabuklod tourism destination here developed by Pampanga Gov. Lilia Pineda.
Gorgolon stressed that the information on dengue should reach “all corners” of Region III’s barangays.
BLOOD BANK
Gorgolon and Pineda met to discuss the immediate and long-term program to prevent the spread of the disease which had killed three persons and affected 1,167 others in Pampanga.
Pineda said she asked the DOH for the establishment of a blood bank in Pampanga that will provide blood platelets for severe cases of dengue.
The virus’ main effect is on the platelet production. Earlier, at the height of dengue incidents, Pineda announced that her constituents will be given free treatment of the disease at the provincial and district hospitals.
Dr. Marcelo Jaochico, provincial health officer 2 of Pampanga, disclosed that blood banks in the province are at the DOH-run Jose B. Lingad Memorial Hospital in the City of San Fernando and at “a few” private hospitals.
He said that the blood banks in Pampanga “only offer blood and not its platelets needed for dengue cases.”
Jaochico said Pineda had wanted to create a blood bank that will cater to “poor people and entertain emergency cases, including life-threatening dengue cases.”
Roy Imperial, adviser-consultant of Pineda, said the governor wants the blood banks to be run by the provincial government assisted by local government units and the DOH “to make prices very affordable.
Of the region’s seven provinces, Nueva Ecija topped with 1,785 dengue cases. Pampanga had ranked 3rd.
The number of cases in the other provinces as of the first six months of 2012: Bulacan, 1,745; Bataan, 677; Tarlac, 488; Zambales, 348; and Aurora, 31.
Gorgolan said the cases of dengue in Central Luzon had increased by at least seven percent compared to the same period last year. But she stressed that the total 11 deaths in the region is 50 percent lower compared to 22 in the same period in 2011.
