Doc councilor warns vs dengue rise in city
NAGA CITY --- Councilor Sonny Ranola, M.D. chair of the Sangguniang Panlungsod’s committee on health has warned against the alarming rising cases of dengue in the city and advised that efforts be made to “re-enhance the control and prevention of the spread of dengue in the City of Naga.”
Delivering his message during the privilege hour of the
regular session of the Sangguniang Panlungsod last Tuesday, the doctor-councilor reported that there have been 380 cases in the city from January 2019 to August 22, 2019, which figure is 108 percent higher than the dengue cases reported during the same period last year where there were only183 cases.
So far, two deaths were reported: One in Barangay Pacol and another in Barangay Abella. The fatalites were a 29 year old female and a 74-year-old grandmother, Ranola disclosed.
Of the 27 barangays in the city, the councilor identified the top 7 barangays with higher frequency of dengue cases, topped by Pacol, an upper rural barangay, with 50 cases as of August 22, this year.
The second barangay with higher dengue cases is Concepcion Pequena, the city’s biggest barangay in terms of population, with 40 cases.
Cararayan, another upper barangay, came third with 35 cases as of the same period. It is followed by Barangay San Felipe, with 31 cases. Fifth is Barangay Calauag, with 23 cases, then Barangays Carolina and Mabolo, which have 21 recorded cases each.
The barangays with the least number of cases as of the same period were identified as: Dinaga, Lerma, and Panicuason which have one case each. Barangay Igualdad has 2 cases, while Tabuco has 4 cases, and Barangay Bagumbayan Norte has 5 cases.
These, as Ranola filed his proposed ordinance seeking to immediately allocate the amount of P700,000 more to cover efforts to strengthen the control and prevention drives of the city against dengue.
On interpellation by fellow Councilor Joe Perez who asked whether there is any logistical assistance being extended by the Department of Health in the face of worsening dengue cases, Ranola replied in the affirmative but admitted that such assistance and other forms of support are not enough considering the alarming rise in dengue cases almost all over the country that the national government and the DOH must attend to.
Ranola said the existing Naga City Anti-Dengue Task Force, while it is doing its job, must be re-enhanced with sufficient funds that will be used to engage more the participation of all stakeholders, public and private, in the drive to abate the number of dengue cases in the city.
He also prescribed that technical and logistical support must be strengthened in the conduct of the 4S Strategy and other programs, projects and activities geared towards controlling, preventing and, if possible, eliminating dengue cases in the city.
He added that the 4 o’clock daily search and destroy drive [against dengue and its potential breeding spots] must be observed every Friday. Symptoms
According to Ranola, symptoms of dengue fever typically begin 3 to 14 days after infection. This may include high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash.
The doctor councilor explained that recovery generally takes 2 to 7 days. In a small proportion of cases, he continued, the disease develops into severe dengue, also known as dengue hemorrhagic fever, resulting in bleeding, low levels of blood platelets and blood plasma leakage, or into dengue shock syndrome where dangerously low blood pressure occurs.