SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Doctors and other medical personnel in the Subic Bay Freeport area received training from the Department of Health’s Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (DOH-RESU) to acquaint them with proper medical protocols when responding to potential Covid-19 patients.
The training held at the Subic gymnasium involved personnel from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority’s Public Health and Safety Department (SBMA-PHSD), Baypointe Hospital and Medical Center in the Subic Freeport, and James L. Gordon Memorial Hospital and ZMMG Coop Hospital in Olongapo City.
SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said the training was a capacity-building exercise to boost the competence of local health workers, and establish cooperation procedures among local hospitals during the Covid-19 emergency.
The training focused on the proper procedures when taking swabs of specimen from potential Covid-19 patients, as well as on the correct donning and doffing of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the test procedure.
It also included a demonstration on the sanitary disposal of said PPE items like masks, gloves and goggles after use, as well as a discussion of the DOH-prepared algorithm for detecting and diagnosing categories of patients.
“This is very important because the medical personnel need to have the knowledge and skills on how to properly respond to Covid-related incidents and emergencies,” said Dr. Solomon R. Jacalne, head of the SBM- PHSD and commander of the SBMA’s Incident Management Team (IMT).
“The training we have attended is part of our preparations for the mobilization of our IMT,” he said.
Jacalne assured the public, however, that at the moment the Subic Bay Freeport Zone remains a zero-Covid-19 area, and urged the public to cooperate to keep the virus at bay.
“The main challenge we are now facing here is keeping the people inside their homes. Some, we observe, are not yet taking this (Covid-19 threat) seriously. That is why we don’t stop with our information campaign,” Jacalne said.
He said the strict implementation of home quarantine is vital, as well as the regulated entry and exit and curfew hours imposed by the SBMA. “These should be obeyed for the safety of us all,” he added.
Meanwhile, SBMA Deputy Administrator for Public health and Safety Ronnie Yambao pointed out that the DOH training on Covid testing had integrated both public and private hospitals in a unified approach to equip and prepare health workers and the local community for any Covid-19 case.
“We are preparing our medical workers as part of the strategic program of the SBMA because only DOH Covid Test Centers have the capability to generate and validate results like the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) and San Lazaro Hospital,” he added.
