Top Manila doctor from Tabuk commends City’s COVID-19 response

April 9, 2022 Provincial

COVID-19 response a well respected OB-gyne specialist and a fellow in various hospitals in Manila congratulated the city local government of Tabuk for its Covid-19 response.
Dr. Raden Villamor Gatbonton-Lipana, a Tabuk native, asked for time to convey her gratitude and respect for Tabuk City and its leadership in her address delivered during the city’s flag-raising ceremony last Monday.
In her talk, she described her experiences as a frontliner in Manila during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic wherein she saw two colleagues die without any medical help.
The doctor’s husband, Robert, also a doctor, also died from the virus. She then praised the efforts of the city in managing the pandemic and was particularly pleased by the Tabuk City Covid Laboratory and the 120-bed Isolation Units, which most LGUs in Metro Manila would love to acquire.
“If these facilities had been available in urban Manila, many more lives could have been saved, people would have had better recovery opportunities, and the virus would not have spread to households.”
“The hospitals have no equipment. There is no oxygen, the sick have no place to stay and there are no crematoriums for the dead during the height of the pandemic in Metro Manila. Even the thermal scanner, which became an issue here, many (Manila) doctors want to have one even if they pay PhP1,000 for it, but then there is no source. If in Manila there are no factories to provide it, there are no factories or warehouses to get it, so how much more here in the province which is far from (Manila),” said Gatbonton in the vernacular.
She said that Tabuk had been lucky since it was provided a Covid-19 laboratory even if some LGUs in Manila have been denied their request to establish their own labs.
She also thanked Mayor Darwin C. Estrañero for ensuring that Tabuk has all of the necessary facilities to keep the people safe from the virus and for prioritizing the most important aspects of the fight against Covid-19.
She said: “As a frontline doctor, I am very proud to be a Tabukeño because of what you’ve accomplished thus far.” In terms of the issues being used against you, I believe that only those who have lived through the horrors can understand.” She added: “This pandemic’s survivors will know that you acted in the people’s best interests.”
Pigeon Lobien/ABN