City to intensify anti-dengue drive

CEBU, Philippines - After he learned that the dengue-related casualties in Cebu City have already reached 23, Mayor Tomas Osmeña said the city will intensify its campaign to rid the entire city of the dengue menace.

City health personnel have been ordered to continue conducting information campaigns in the barangays to inform the public on how to fight the mosquito-borne disease that already caused the hospitalization of 757 persons in the city since January.

After the death of a sophomore of the Cebu City National Science High School last Tuesday, the city health personnel are scheduled to conduct mist spraying in the school’s vicinity.

Although the 23 dengue casualties since January is much lower compared to 38 deaths for the same period last year, Osmeña said he is not satisfied because dengue is just a simple case if the parents will not take for granted the situation of their children.

The medical records of those persons who died of dengue in Cebu City show that they died a day after they were brought to the different hospitals, meaning that their situation was already critical when they were taken to the doctors.

Osmeña did not criticize opposition leader Jonathan “Atan” Guardo on his move to also conduct massive information campaign to teach the public on how to fight dengue, saying that dengue virus is their common enemy.

Guardo is scheduled to launch this morning his project called Guards Against Dengue’s Spread in sitio Kaduloy, barangay Tisa, at 10 a.m.

While City Hall has a team of nurses and members of the Mayor’s Management Team to educate the public about the evils of dengue, Guardo also has a team of volunteer nurses and civilians to do the same information campaign.

Before Osmeña was hospitalized for cancer, he personally attended the barangay discussions where he explained on how to prevent the spread of dengue by destroying the breeding sites of mosquitoes in their vicinities, even inside the houses.

At present, barangays Kamputhaw and Labangon have already recorded three deaths each, two each from barangays Guadalupe, Lorega, Carreta, Mambaling and Tisa, and one each from barangays Talamban, Basak-San Nicolas, Luz, Pardo, Binaliw, Lahug and Sudlon II. — Rene U. Borromeo/BRP    (FREEMAN NEWS)