DAVAO CITY – Six days had passed since the city was reclassified to general community quarantine (GCQ) but the situation remained precarious if safety protocols are breached or compromised.
During the virtual presser in Monday, Department of Health-Davao Region Assistant Director Lenny Joy Rivera said their agency is in need of 500 workers to help in their effort against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the region following the discovery of 41 infections among health care workers.
Dr. Rivera bared that out of 215 positive patients as of May 18, 41 are health workers who are assigned in different medical facilities in the region and 24 of them are from the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC). All of them are currently under quarantine, including their work companions and close family members.
As precautionary measure, the SPMC conducted an expanded targeted testing among its 1,000 employees in which 24 of them were found to have acquired the virus through their line of work. These infected health workers include internists, obstetrics and gynecology doctors; nursing attendants, and housekeeping staff.
“Kaya nag-request ang DOH ng volunteers at nag-hiring na po kami ngayon,” (This is why DOH is calling for volunteers and we are also hiring right now), she said.
She continued that the region needs about 500 more workers including admin people like encoders, facility managers, ambulance drivers, security personnel, maintenance and those who will be assigned in their isolation facilities. Many of their workers will also attend to non-Covid-19 related patients.
