Cebu Provincial Health Office In Elections

The Cebu Provincial Health office is alerting provincial hospitals under its supervision to be ready for deployment in case their services are needed on election day.

Whether or not the Regional Health Department will ask the Cebu Provincial Health Office and its health teams in the 16 district and provincial hospitals to serve in the upcoming May 9, 2016 elections as responders, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Cynthia Genosolango wants CPHO teams i to stay alert.

There is possibility the CPHO teams will be fielded in areas where there is a huge number of voters.

According to the Provincial Health Officer, CPHO teams are readying for election duties, especially responding to cases of voters fainting/collapsing due to heat exhaustion and cases involving senior citizens.

Assignment of heath teams/responders to designated voting centers also depend on their proximity to district or provincial hospitals.

The CPHO anticipates receiving guidelines from DOH7 based on the MOA signed by Health Sec. Janette P. Garin and COMELEC Chairman Andres D. Bautista.

The March 7, 2016 memorandum of agreement was drawn between the Health Department and the Commission on Elections defining their respective roles and obligations in the forthcoming May 9, 2016 Elections.

In a meeting at DOH 7 with the Comelec, CPHO, OCD, PDRRMO, DEPED, and other government agencies, everyone especially health personnel from the regional office and Cebu provincial health office were reminded to maintain their neutrality.

A pre-election meeting is expected as election day nears to iron out kinks.

It is the task of the COMELEC to provide relevant information needed by the health teams to identify priority voting centers.

Priority voting centers are areas with a big voting population.

Based on data provided by COMELEC in the Medical Response Package which include the COMELEC-DOH MOA, the top ten Cebu municipalities with heavily populated voting centers are San Roque and Tabunok elementary schools in Talisay City, Don Andres Brgy. High School and South City Central Schools in Toledo City , Danao City Central Scool and Bibiana Mercado Elentary School in Danao City, Tayud Elementary School and Bagong Lipunan elementary school in Consolacion, Tuyan and Inayagan Elementary Schools in Naga City, Perrelos Elemantary School in Carcar City, Yati Elementary School in Liloan, Lower tunghaan, Minglanilla, Maya in Daan Bantayan, and Gairan in Bogo City. There are now 51 municipalities and cities in the province.

There are now 51 municipalities and cities in the province. The primary goal of the medical team is to ensure the safety and welfare of the voters, DepEd, Comelec and supporting government agencies.

Health officials in the region are ready for SAFE 2016, or Secure, Accurate, Free Election.

One of the important objectives is to ensure that the two institutions help one another guard against risks, hazards, and dangers to health and life associated with the elections, particularly exposure to heat and weather and election-related violence.

Cebu Province now has 50 municipalities.

DOH 7 regional director Jaime Bernadas is over-all incident commander.

By Fides Palicte