Poe to IATF: Boost support for Iloilo, other high-risk areas to halt virus spread

Senator Grace Poe on Monday exhorted the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to act with dispatch regarding the plea of Iloilo province and other high-risk local governments to augment their resources for Covid-19 relief to treat the rising influx of patients.

The chair of the Senate public services committee echoed the call of some local executives that areas outside the National Capital Region which are considered as Covid hotspots should also be prioritized in the vaccine distribution to contain the spread of the virus that have spilled over to several provinces.

“While there aren’t enough vaccines yet for everybody, those who need them most should get them first, including our people in the provinces like Iloilo,” Poe said.

In several areas experiencing Covid-19 spike, hospitals are stretched way too thin as medical personnel, rooms, beds and every piece of equipment are being exhausted to attend to patients, reports have said.

In the case of her hometown Iloilo, Poe noted that the Iloilo Medical Society has sought the help of the national government over the need for more medicines, vaccines and medical frontliners, as hospital beds are filled to the brim and due reimbursements from the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. are delayed.

“It is very difficult to battle Covid-19 infections once it is already there. As true with other diseases, prevention is still the best option to win this battle,” the group wrote in pushing for increased allotment of the vaccines.

Poe said the increasing Covid-19 cases in the provinces that have reached an alarming level should be the cue to spread the vaccine fast.

“When the medical frontliners themselves have sounded off the distress signal, we must listen and act,” she said.

The post Poe to IATF: Boost support for Iloilo, other high-risk areas to halt virus spread first appeared on .

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)