Food stalls under watch after diarrhea cases rise

By Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY - Mayor Mauricio Domogan has ordered the city health office to tighten its watch over food stalls and handlers all over the city to ensure cleanliness and safety of consumers in the wake of sudden increase in diarrhea cases in the city for the first five weeks of the year.

“I’m sure our health department is on top of the situation and are prepared with contingency measures to address the situation and safeguard the safety of our constituents especially now that we are expecting many tourists for the Panagbenga events this month,” the mayor said.

The Dept. of Health Center for Health Development in a press briefing bared an 11-fold increase in acute bloody diarrhea cases from 19 cases in 2012 to 232 cases this year.

DOH-CAR assistant regional director AmelitaPangilinan attributed the increase to “unsanitary food handling of street food vendors and poor water quality.”

The food poisoning incident at the recent scout jamboree held at the AtingTahanan also contributed to the increase.

Dr. DonnabelTuvera, chief of the City Epidemiology Surveillance Unit said the sanitation division of the department has instituted control and preventive measures to avert further incidents.

“Our sanitation division is quite strict on the grant of sanitation permits and health certificates such that even those operating only for a short time will have to undergo inspections and secure permits,” Tuvera said.

She said sanitation teams are expected to intensify monitoring of the food stalls and sustain the rigid training and health certificate requirements for food handlers to ensure that no more diarrhea cases will occur.

She said the AtingTahanan immediately closed the water pipe suspected to have triggered the contamination even as investigation on the case continued to ascertain the true cause of the food poisoning incident.