Guardo infomercials vs. dengue to air today

CEBU, Philippines - The infomercials on dengue initiated by congressional aspirant Jonathan Guardo are expected to start airing today but Guardo refused to reveal how much he had spent for the advertisements.

The infomercials are intended primarily to instill fear on the part of the viewing public, as well as to encourage them to immediately bring children to the doctor whenever they experience high fever.

Guardo hopes that the infomercials would help stop dengue-related deaths in the city.

Durinda Macasocol, assistant chief of the Cebu City Epidemiology Surveillance Unit of the City Health Department, said they have recorded 23 dengue-related deaths in Cebu City starting January this year.

Guardo’s 30-second infomercial features a 12-year-old boy from barangay Tisa who died of dengue last month. The commercial shows his mother crying as she recalled how her son lost his life.

The child contracted the disease while at a relative in Talisay and was brought to a private clinic at a neighboring town for medication and observation. Three days after, the doctor advised the mother to have her son confined at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center because he found to have dengue. The child died the day after.

“Kun may kwarta pa unta ko, gidala g’yud unta nako dayon sa private hospital ang akong anak… buhi pa tingali unta siya,” the infomercial shows the mother as saying.

Guardo then appears at the end of the infomercial, urging the public to always clean their surroundings and to destroy breeding sites of mosquitoes.

Albeit free, a Complete Blood Count at the Cebu City Medical Center can be completed in four hours, which is reportedly “late” by common standards.

Asked if he is willing to shoulder the expenses of those from the south district who would want a CBC test in other hospital, Guardo was quick to say, “Unya na lang tingali na kun mahimo na ko nga kongresista. Igo na lang usa kining atong paghimo ug information campaign.”

The city health department observed that some of those who died of dengue the day after they arrived at the hospital were brought there while already at a critical condition.

So far, three deaths were registered from barangays Labangon, Camputhaw and Labangon; two each in 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/JMO (THE FREEMAN)