Timely preparedness vs. A(H1N1) plague

WITH about eight million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), plus several mil-lions more Filipino migrants who comeback to the Philippines for a balikbayan holiday, and those coming from a short business, educational or purely pleasure trip, the risk has been very high from the beginning for the entry of the Influenza A(H1N1) virus into our country.

Filipinos are spread out in practically all continents of the world and with 47 other countries already having reported positive cases of the A(H1N1), it was almost inevitable that the virus would sooner or later find its way into a carrier who is heading to the Philippines.

The Department of Health (DOH), headed by Secretary Francisco Duque III, recognized and acted upon this very real threat. His team prepared well and way ahead of time. They exemplified the trashing of that shameful Filipino attitude of bahala na. They were there on media, everyday, educating the people, making warnings about the dangers of the virus while at the same time reassuring the public that there is no cause for panic.

Cynics doubted that our government – notorious for its bureaucratic and corrupt practices – had the capability to handle the problem that already had international health officials deeply worried. Still others trivialized the threat, inclu-ding those who have traveled themselves and could have potentially been carriers of the virus, thinking that they must be the last person on earth to be infected and that the government is simply overreacting and creating a hype over the matter.

But the DOH simply did its job, made preparations and kept the public informed. And so when the virus did arrive, as there are now 10 confirmed cases in the country including one here in a hospital in Dagupan City, mechanisms were in place on what to do with the patients (from quarantine requirements to blood testing) and how to track down those who could have possibly been infected.

Dagupan’s local health officials together with private medical practitioners, living up to the example set by Duque, himself a proud son of the city, have also been prepared with the formation two weeks ago of a multi-sector task force to handle A(H1N1) should it come to town.

And now City Health Officer Leonard Carbonnel is calling on the barangay officials and the people in the community to help with the work by keeping watch on possible cases in their respective areas, which, as Carbonnel rightly pointed out, they know much better than anyone else.

It will take a village to start an A(H1N1) outbreak. And so, too, that it takes a village to keep us from the plague.

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