Council requests City health: Regular checkup for jail inmates

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Council requested the City Health Department to conduct a regular checkup for the inmates of the Cebu City Jail after a religious group asked the council to address the health issues of the detainees.

Dr. Daisy Villa, head the Cebu City Health Department, has assured that they will consider the request of the City Council and will incorporate it in their monthly program despite concerns of their office.

“Kulang kaayo ta og doctors and we have a lot of things to answer,” Villa said.

Further, Cebu City Jail Warden Johnson Calub appealed before the council for an additional meal allowance for the inmates.

Calub, a nurse by profession, said that 2,434 inmates are allocated with P50 per day for the meals, which is the standard rate for all detainees in jails under the BJMP nationwide. 

“There are serious deficiencies in the diet for both the healthy and sick inmates which lead to malnutrition, and in not a few cases, men have died from the consequences of having their health compromised by lack of suitable wholesome diet,” he said.

He said that other LGUs offer extra meal allowance to the BJMP inmates, adding that the Cebu City Jail has not received any from the city government.

He said that there are 37 inmates currently confined in a 40-square-meter ward after having suffering from sudden weight loss, intermittent fever and productive cough for more than three to five days.

Calub disclosed that they don’t have on-call doctors and only have one doctor from their regional office.

“There is no doctor on call for the whole prison, therefore inmates have no regular medical checkup as is normal in institution of men who are incarcerated,” he said.

With these issues and concerns, the members of the council asked the BJMP to write a letter to the executive department to provide for additional funds for the meal allowance of the inmates.

Further, the council requested the Police Coordinating Advisory Council to consider the issues raised by BJMP and to furnish the Department of Interior and Local Government a copy of the minutes of the session. The BJMP is an agency under DILG.

The City Council also requested DOH-7 for the possibility to provide more psychiatric care for the inmates.

Calub further stressed that the city jail now has 2, 434 inmates but ideally, the facility can only accommodate up to 1,700 inmates. — (FREEMAN)