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COVID ANALYZER. Mayor Benjamin Magalong inspects the Huawei
Artificial Intelligence (AI) CT Scan System which will test its first Covid-19
person under investigation. Baguio is the first recipient of the scanner
developed by Huawei. The results of the scan are not conclusive and
confirmatory but will give the city a heads up. (PNA photo courtesy of
PIO Baguio)
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By Dexter A. See
BAGUIO CITY -- – The Baguio General Hospital and
Medical Center (BGHMC) urged the public not to discriminate the health workers,
especially those that are handling persons under investigation (PUIs) and
presumptive Corona Virus Disease (COVID) 2019 cases, because they do not
deserve such stigma compared to the risk that they are taking just to save
lives.
BGHMC Medical Center Chief Dr. Ricardo Ruñez disclosed that the hospital
already received reports from the concerned health workers on the alleged
discrimination being done against them and the members of their families
considering their handling of the PUIs and presumptive COVID cases which should
not be the case.
He said health workers handling high risk cases such as PUIs and
presumptive COVID cases are fully protected when dealing with their patients
that is when they go out of the hospital and go home, they will not contaminate
their family members and relatives.
The BGHMC official explained that the problem only occurs when there is
a break in the personal protective equipment of the health workers but such
instances are remote possibilities as the hospital is trying to make sure that
the protective equipment of health workers do not have the defects that will
expose them to such life-threatening illness.
“We appeal to the public not to discriminate our health workers because
it is not worth the sacrifices that they are making just to save the life of
individuals who contract the deadly virus. Our health workers do not deserve
such kind of stigma because they are risking their lives for the benefit of the
welfare of others,” Dr. Ruñez stressed.
The medical center chief said aside from being provided with the
required personal protective equipment, health workers handling high risk cases
also underwent the necessary training that allows them to be able to
effectively and efficiently handle such cases without being contaminated with
the deadly virus that is why it is still safe to mingle with health workers and
for them not to be stigmatized.
According to him, the discrimination of health workers is unfair because
the stigma against them is not commensurate to the risk of the job that they
are doing aside from being exposed to being contaminated with the contagious
disease, thus, the public should learn to understand the nature of their job so
that they will be able to learn to appreciate the sacrifices being done by the
frontliners in confronting the challenges posed by the deadly virus.
Earlier, the BGHMC was designated by the health department as one of the
five sub-national testing centers in the country to facilitate the conduct of
the initial screening of persons under investigation to reduce the huge backlog
of pending tests in the different parts of the country.
Ruñez called on the public to also understand the prioritization being
done by the hospital to prevent the influx of individuals wanting to undergo
the COVID test conside4ring that the priority will still be those that possess
the severe symptoms of the illness and those that have underlying medical
conditions to maximize the limited test kits that have been initially provided
to the sub-national testing center by the health department.
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