The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine said yesterday that its staff and San Lazaro Hospital personnel and patients are all safe from the novel coronavirus and that there are protocols being followed to keep them from being infected.
RITM Director Celia Carlos said the RITM and the San Lazaro Hospital have set standard procedures on standard prevention and control.
Carlos explained that their procedure covers an array of precautionary measures, including the wearing of personal protective equipment, handling of patients, and cleaning of rooms occupied by infected patients.
She added that health workers are also requested to monitor their temperature twice a day. They may also be placed under quarantine if they develop any symptoms which will be managed.
“Both have a long history of handling emerging infectious diseases. So far we have been good, the health workers, none of them, so far, have been infected,” Carlos said.
Meanwhile, Carlos said that while she has no power to give additional compensation to health workers concerned, she recommended that RITM and San Lazaro Hospital personnel be given additional hazard pay because they are more exposed to the disease.
“We have a standard hazard pay in government but there are more people who are exposed to more hazards than others but they receive the same remunerations,” she said. (Genalyn Kabiling)
