CAR Covid 19 readiness lauded as lack of provincial hospital in Ifugao noted

Hapao Hungduan, Ifugao (June 06, 2020) – “Let us be united as Cordillerans as we all continue to heal as one and move forward with complete cooperation and discipline to jumpstart our great region’s economy.”

This is the appeal of Bagong Lakas ng Indigeneous (BALAI) founder Timmy Apilis Mondiguing as he happily noted that the Cordillera Administrative Region has far less coronavirus-19 cases and fatalities compared to other regions in the country.

He also pointed out that almost all the provinces and cities of the region have their own respective fully functional hospitals catering to the health needs of their constituents.

 “This is as it should be since the first priority of every local government is the safety and security of its residents and visitors especially now that we are all facing a deadly pandemic that has killed thousands globally,” Mondiguing stressed.

He said that local government funds including those from the national government should be utilized for the improvement and strengthening of their health systems like hospitals, medicines, PPEs and the like rather than on non-essential infrastructure that the public could live without for the meantime.

Mondiguing, lamented the fact, however, that his province seems to be the only area in the region without a fully functional hospital whose construction started way back in 2011 and whose completion is still in question.

“This is a challenge to Ifugao’s leaders. Divisive politics must step aside for the meantime.

I also ask that the people of our great province rally behind our leaders who cannot solve Ifugao’s problems all by themselves.

They need our support and cooperation,” he stressed.

Mondiguing said that Ifugao  must assure its residence and visitors that it has a well-equipt and well-prepared health system before the province opens its borders to outsiders or lifting its General Community Quarantine (GCQ) status.

“The province needs  a specific  quarantine place for PUI’s and PUM’s , designated covid hospital, including the purchase of  additional ventilators, PPE, masks,shields, testing kits, thermoguns, gloves, medicines, hiring of contact tracers, hiring of health workers equipped with training, and purchase of flu and pneumonia vaccines for every ifugao resident, he explained.

Having it’s own covid lab in the province with RTPCR machines will be a great accomplishment instead of sending test samples to the National Capital Region or Baguio City which normally takes 10 to 14 days to get results , he added.

“For us to move on, we have to first strengthen the province’s health system to prepare us for the so-called ‘second wave’ of infections.  This can be achieved by utilizing the additional budget given by the DILG to LGUs as part of its Covid-19 assistance fund,” Mondiguing said.

He is hopeful that the DILG assistance together with the LGUs 20 percent development fund be used to improve Ifugao’s health system instead of for various infrastructure projects like repainting, pathways, and others.

We are also hopeful that Ifugao’s officials will apply full transparency in the procurement of the province’s health needs to protect its people from the covid pandemic treat, he added.

“This pandemic is a wake up call for all of us especially our beloved province’s leaders,” Mondiguing said.

Thom Picana(Amianan Balita)