Metro 3rd

PNA
By Nanette Guadalquiver September 23, 2020, 4:57 pm

BACOLOD CITY – Local government units (LGUs) in Negros Occidental’s third district have established an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) that is set to be fully operational next week.

As of Wednesday, final preparations are underway for the facility. A day earlier, officials led by Rep. Francisco Benitez and Abang Lingkod party-list Rep. Stephen Paduano met with retired Maj. Gen. Melquiades Feliciano, deputy implementer of the Covid-19 Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF)-Visayas, to discuss the guidelines for the operations that will be launched next week.

“It is important to standardize guidelines on data gathering, processing, and analysis among the five LGUs of the district,” Benitez and Paduano said in a joint statement.

The third district, located in the northern part of the province, is composed of the cities of Talisay, Silay, and Victorias, and the municipalities of Murcia and E. B. Magalona.

Benitez said he has requested the Department of Health (DOH) to send 18,000 testing kits to augment supplies in the third district. “These are expected to arrive later this week,” he added.

During the combined face-to-face and virtual meeting, Feliciano underscored the major factors to make the EOC effective and efficient.

These included strong coordination with the command center with a centralized structure as well as accuracy and timeliness of data collection since critical meaningful data analysis is key to intervention along with a workable referral system flow.

Feliciano also identified areas for improvement and points for emulation after the five LGUs shared best practices and experiences in the areas of swabbing, contact tracing, and data gathering.

In Negros Occidental, Talisay, Silay, and Murcia, all located adjacent to this city, are among the LGUs with the most number of Covid-19 cases, based on the latest tally provided by the provincial government.

As of Wednesday, Talisay City north of here, has a total of 405 cases, including 223 recoveries, 169 active cases, and 13 deaths.

As the first integrated district-wide Covid-19 response body in Negros Occidental, the Metro Third EOC will also strengthen coordination and cooperation for better management of resources from both the public and private sectors in the implementation of quick emergency response systems, medical referrals through telemedicine, and existing structures in the communities, and effective monitoring of testing, tracing, isolation, and treatment procedures. (PNA)