MANKAYAN, Benguet – The municipal government is working on the creation of a permanent position next year for the first Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) patient in the municipality to serve as a token for her unwavering and uncompromising service to the municipality, especially during the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
Mayor Frenzel A. Ayong commended Glory Galino, 23, a health worker from Sayyapot, Balili working in the district health center based in Sitio Atayan, Balili for her passion and dedication to her job that exposed her to people who might have contracted the virus outside the town.
Galino was reportedly in charge on the issuance of health declaration forms to the farmers who had been going in and out of the municipality to sell their vegetable produce at the La Trinidad Vegetable Trading Post and the Benguet Agri Pinoy Trading Center (BAPTC) at the height of the ECQ and the general community quarantine (GCQ).
Mayor Ayong claimed the municipal government is working on the creation of the position of Midwife I with Salary Grade 9 next year for the first COVID-19 patient as token for her dedicated service as she is currently employed under job order status.
The town’s COVID-19 patient was discharged from the Benguet General Hospital (BeGH) recently and was advised to undergo home isolation before going back to work in the health station where she is assigned.
According to the mayor, the discovery of the first COVID-19 case served as a wakeup call for people to adhere to the stringent health and safety protocols put in place by the national and local inter-agency task forces for the management of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases to prevent the transmission of the dreaded virus in the community.
Earlier, the 289 close contacts of the patient tested negative for the virus following the conduct of aggressive contact tracing by concerned health workers and other frontliners for them to undergo the required swab test.
The municipal chief executive stated municipal officials are now working double time to intensify the local government’s anti-COVID-19 operations to ensure that no infected individual will be able to enter the municipality and subsequently transmit the virus that will cause the sudden surge in the number of COVID-19 cases that might compromise the limited quarantine facilities.
At present, Ayong disclosed that the town’s border with Cervantes, Ilocos Sur had been closed after the discovery of the first patient and the municipal government is trying to locate other sources of adequate rice supply that will sustain the stable price of the staple food in the municipality.
Further, Bauko, Mountain Province also locked down its borders with the municipality that is why the existing access outside is through Abatan, Buguias while awaiting the decision of the concerned local governments to their earlier appeal to lift the aforesaid lockdowns for the smooth flow of agricultural products and other basic commodities inside and outside Mankayan.
By Hent
You might also like:
