Officials in this city on Friday thanked the national government for its pledge to donate mechanical ventilators to help fight the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
This, after Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque announced the allocation of mechanical ventilators to the city during Thursday’s Palace press briefing.
Mayor Oscar Moreno said the national government’s commitment was in response to the written request made by Cagayan de Oro 1st District Rep. Rolando Uy to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.
“Unlike intensive care units, which take some time to review and accredit by the Department of Health (DOH), mechanical ventilators are easier to acquire and use. Hopefully, it would be forthcoming and I’m thankful to the national government (for heeding our request) and to Congressman Uy for requesting additional mechanical ventilators from Health Secretary Duque,” Moreno said during Thursday’s City Hall online press briefing.
In Uy’s letter dated June 18, he also requested the expansion of the Intensive Care Unit capacity and Covid-19 capacity dedicated for the Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC), which serves as the Northern Mindanao region’s apex hospital for Covid-19.
“We urgently need to strengthen NMMC’s capacity to respond to the pandemic,” Uy said.
Moreno said the DOH also recognized City Hall’s acquisition of 15 high-flow oxygen machines that it lent to the NMMC and to the city’s public and private hospitals, including the city-owned JR Borja General Hospital.
Meanwhile, Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez thanked Duque, chair of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, and co-chair Secretary Karlo Nograles for acting on the request for 24 ventilators, in the former’s letter dated June 21.
He said Roque announced that the government has placed 10 cities outside the National Capital Region on its priority list for vaccine distribution to help them contain the spread of Covid-19, especially the highly contagious Delta variant. (PNA)
