BY: HAZEL F. GLORIA
CEBU CITY, July 24 (PIA) --- The Department of Health (DOH-7) celebrates National Disaster Consciousness Month with the theme, “Kahandaan at Kaligtasan ng Pamayanan, Pundasyon ng Kaunlaran.”
DOH-7 Health Emergency Management and Staff (HEMS) chief Dr. Expedito Medalla in a recent AGIO-7 Forum said, DOH is now conducting series of trainings and seminars on disaster preparedness to the local government units (LGUs) in celebration of the disaster month.
Medalla said, trainings and earthquake/fire drills, basic life support and first aid and other related disaster incidents or emergencies management were conducted in Tuburan, Cebu and Ubay, Bohol.
DOH-7 encouraged the LGUs to create its local disaster team for immediate response when disasters hit their respective areas.
The team is composed of the following members: Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), municipal and barangay health workers, tanods and other LGU officials.
In a relative development, DOH-7 also activated its Surveillance Post-Extreme Emergencies and Disaster (SPEED) during a disaster which is an early warning disease surveillance system for post-disaster situations.
DOH-7 Program Manager of Food and Water Borne Diseases Dr. Joanri Riveral, said SPEED aims to determine early and potential disease outbreaks and monitor disease trends.
This will contribute greatly in reducing preventable deaths and diseases by enabling timely and appropriate responses by local chief executives and program planners, Riveral continued.
Riveral explained, the SPEED system monitors 21 identified disease entities or health events common in emergencies or disasters.
With this, DOH-7 could monitor the health situation of an evacuation center or area in order to give the right treatment and medicines. SPEED also conducted nationwide trainings and advocacies for local government officials. (mbcn/hfg/PIA7/AGIO-7 Forum)