Front liners virtually fight virus with nothing
By FROILAN GALLARDO,
Special Corrrepondent
THE lack of masks, thermal guns and medical equipment have stymied efforts by health workers – putting their lives at risks— to fight Covid-19.
At a quarantine checkpoint in Baloy, this city, police resort to merely spraying the hands of passing motorists because they do not have thermal guns.
Health workers manning the quarantine checkpoint in Alae, Manolo Fortich town have only one thermal gun for the hundreds of commuters entering the province of Bukidnon.
Local governments caught by surprise by the upsurge of Covid-19 cases are in a quandary on where to buy thermal guns and other equipment to fight the deadly virus.
“We have the money and we want to buy more thermal guns but there is no supplier who can get us some, “ Maricel Casiño-Rivera, Cagayan de Oro public information officer, said.
A week ago, Dr. Jose Chan, chief of the Northern Mindanao Medical Center, appealed for masks, globes and alcohol for the hospital's medical staff.
A number of civic clubs and individuals have heeded the call and donated masks, gloves and even food for the hospital medical staff.
But the shortage of face masks and alcohol has hit the ceiling in Cagayan de Oro that health officials are just advising residents to wash their hands with soap as often as possible.
Others like the Cagayan de Oro Press Club (COPC) have commissioned several wives of their members to make masks made from discarded clothes.
COPC president Manny Jaudian said the cloth masks would be distributed to reporters and media workers who cannot afford or could not find face masks in the city.
Forrmer ABS-CBN station manager Donna Ocampo banded together with other executives to make improvised face screens made from plastic.
Ocampo and her fellow volunteers have distributed 200 face screens to the medical staff of the NMMC.
Chan said the hospital does not have test kits and has to draw tissue samples from suspected Covid-19 cases.
He said the samples are shipped to Manila and it would take 15 days for results to be known.
This sparked fears that Covid-19 is lurking in the city’s suburbs and urban poor communities.
Rivera said the city government has plans to mount house-to-house inspections.
“We have already organized the teams but we are still waiting for the thermal guns to arrive,” she said.
