BALANGA, BATAAN — The Provincial Health Office (PHO) of Bataan reported no additional confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 for six days straight. Test results received on Saturday showed 107 negative cases.
PHO revealed that the province has already tested a total of 1,791 patients since the first confirmed COVID-19 case in March, 81 cases of which came out positive while 853 have been declared negative. PHO is still awaiting the results of 857 pending test cases.
The people of Bataan see this as a welcome development especially after the outbreak of COVID-19 at the Bataan General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) last week that affected 55 health workers, more than half of the total confirmed cases in the entire province.
BGHMC is now an exclusive treatment facility for COVID patients via an Optimized Emergency Response measure taken by the Bataan Inter-Agency Task Force on COVID-19.
The provincial government, through Bataan Gov. Albert Garcia and Cong. Jose Enrique Garcia, has taken the reigns of providing more isolation and quarantine facilities and living accommodations for the more than 280 affected health workers.
The Garcias also facilitated partnership with private hospitals in the province for the treatment and referrals of non-COVID patients from BGHMC.
The provincial government will shoulder the medical expense of indigent patients even if they are treated in private hospitals. The private hospitals, in turn, agreed to take 50 percent cut on doctor’s fees. (Shirley Matias Pizarro)