Communities directly affected by the Magnitude 7.8 earthquake and its aftershocks are assured that DOH hospitals in the Davao Region continue to operate to provide services and these spaces are all safe to access.
In the Davao Region, there are three DOH hospitals: Southern Philippines Medical Center, Davao Regional Medical Center, and Davao Occidental General Hospital (DOGH). All of them remain fully functional. DOGH in particular has been resilient in operations, serving the badly hit communities in Davao Occidental.
“DOGH activated its continuity of operations plan to ensure safe and uninterrupted care,” said DOGH Medical Center Chief Dr. Glinard Quezada.
He said that during earthquakes, the DOGH Outpatient Department staff follow standard protocols, which include doing the Drop, Cover, and Hold On procedure.
“After the tremors, we secured the area and triage evacuated patients based on injury severity. We also go the extra mile in communicating dos and don’ts to patients through our health educators. Patients and visitors were calmly guided to nearest emergency exits for safe passage,” he said.
He added that the same care is given to hospital workers: the mental health clinic of the hospital operates continuously with a dedicated mental health and psychosocial support team. Psychological first aid is provided to employees, patients and watchers.
In the past week, DOGH has set up an outpatient area in a safe ground and maintained patient tracking through manual logbooks and charting; the hospital served an average of 170 patients per day. The facility is also currently nursing over 50 patients in admission and 10 undergoing hemodialysis; all of them were provided with uninterrupted care.
Human Resources for Health already in field
Apart from the resilient hospital operations, DOH has also directed the already deployed human resources in the province to respond to the needs in their respective areas and evacuation centers. There are 126 DOH medical professionals (referred to as Human Resources for Health) in Davao Occidental. These personnel — nurses, dentists, nutritionists, medical technologists, physical therapists, and midwives — are meant to augment the healthcare workforce in local government units and are operating under the National Health Workforce Support System.
Common cases treated in the evacuation centers are open wounds, panic attacks, hypertension, body pains, headaches, and vertigo.
DOH Davao raised a code white alert level last June 8 and initiated response efforts and deployment of resources. DOH Davao continues to coordinate with local government units and health workers throughout the region to report and respond to incidents and health emergencies.
