Moreno extends offer to house Misor’s Covid patients

IN instructing the City Health Office to reach out to the Provincial Health Office and the mayors of Misamis Oriental’s towns, Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno said extending the city’s offer to house their Covid-19 patients is a ‘preemptive move’ for the city and province.

“Let’s not be nervous and refuse Covid-19 patients from the province nor should we in the city adopt a hardline stance against these patients just because the provincial government previously adopted policies restricting Kagay-anons from going in and out of Misamis Oriental,” Moreno said during this noon’s press briefing.

Moreno referred to the health pass requirement and 6 pm curfew previously imposed by the Capitol on Kagay-anons heading to and going out of the province prior to the national government taking over the classification of quarantine status for local governments in May.

With the Misamis Oriental Provincial Hospital in Balingasag town closing down for two weeks after three of their administrative personnel tested positive for Covid-19, Moreno voiced concern over reports that Covid-19 patients in the province are being housed in barangay halls and municipal school buildings for their two-week quarantine.

Moreno reiterated the city’s efforts to house its returning Kagay-anons in the city’s isolation units as well as its Covid-19 positive residents in the city’s temporary treatment management facility to help shield Northern Mindanao Medical Center from being overwhelmed with a surge of Covid-19 cases from the city and the province.

Moreno said protecting the NMMC, northern Mindanao Covid-19 referral hospital is one of the city’s non-pharmaceutical interventions aimed at ensuring that the number of Covid-19 cases in the city and province is well within NMMC’s capacity to handle and manage.

Misamis Oriental recorded over 60 Covid-19 positive cases in nearly two months of which half are locally stranded individuals and returning overseas Filipinos.

“I monitored the reports and looked over data (of the Department of Health) and only six out of the 24 towns of Misamis Oriental have no Covid-19 cases,” Moreno said.

During last Saturday noon’s press briefing, Moreno said he instructed Paul Douglas Calingin, the head of City Hall’s Operation Tabang for returnees to extend City Hall’s offer of assistance to the mayors in Misamis Oriental and coordinate with them in their cases.

City Health Officer Dr. Lorraine Nery said the city’s TTMF also houses authorized persons outside residence who are not city residents but have tested positive for Covid-19.

“The City Health Office and JR Borja General Hospital prepared contingencies to include assisting the Northern Mindanao Medical Center should it be overwhelmed with Covid-19 cases,” Dr. Nery said.

In extending the city’s offer of assistance to the province’s towns, Moreno said City Hall already developed a functional, capable Covid-19 response system to handle cases in the city.

“The city is prepared to offer within its means to house Covid-19 patients from the province as much as it can,” Moreno said. (Stephen Capillas of the City Information Office)