Nation

No bonus for CHO if dengue cases continue to rise in Davao

August 2, 2016 | 7:03pm

DAVAO CITY — There would be no Christmas bonus for City Health Office (CHO) employees if deaths due to dengue do not decline, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio threatened.

"I think the tropical diseases unit of CHO will not receive their bonus. I will give their bonus to the families of those who God forbid will die in the next six months," she said.

The mayor has already expressed disappointment to the CHO upon knowledge of the huge death toll of Davaoeños due to dengue-related cases.

From January until June 2016, the number of dengue fever deaths has reached 25. Six more were added from last week's record of 19 deaths. In the same period, CHO confessed that there were already over 4,000 patients with dengue who were admitted to hospitals here.

Duterte-Carpio said the tropical diseases unit of the CHO should be responsible for these deaths.

"We are expecting them to do something to reduce the cases and number of deaths in the next six months," the mayor added.

Duterte-Carpio said that the office should submit a lower statistics compared to that of last year and if they fail in this task, the mayor said she would be compelled not to release the Christmas bonus of the employees concerned.

In an interview with Philstar.com, CHO head Dra. Josephine Villafuerte said they are not the one to blame for the increasing number of deaths due to dengue.

"The office has always been active in doing all our anti-dengue measures but the success will also be dependent on the coordination of the residents," Villafuerte reasoned.

She explained that her staff has been around the city performing clean-up drives and seminars to barangays on how to stop mosquitoes from spreading.

"Pag nilinis namin ngayon, kinabukasan wala nang maglilinis para sa kanila. The community also has to do their part," she added.

Donation from private groups

Ford Tractor Philippines, a Manila-based agriculture company, has offered on Monday to help in the city's anti-dengue measures.

Villafuerte said the company has offered to donate 10 machines that would help kill adult mosquitoes.

"They will be giving misting and fog machines but they are still processing the papers and it may not come very soon," she informed.

The CHO head also said that some television networks have helped in implementing the anti-dengue campaign as they air TV ads and other useful information on how to avoid the disease.

Anti-dengue ordinance

Councilor Bernard Al-ag guaranteed that the council would look closely into CHO's implementation of anti-dengue programs and how it is spending its budget.

Al-ag said P1 million was already handed down to the office.

“We will look closely how they are going to implement it.”

The councilor said that the anti-dengue ordinance seeks to institutionalize the so-called 4 o'clock habit, encouraging the active participation of the public in the anti-dengue drive.

He filed a similar ordinance in 2004, but it was not approved by the council.