Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez has directed the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) here to spearhead the local government’s continuing coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) response.
As of Friday, the functions of the Emergency Operations Center Task Force (EOC-TF), which previously included deputies from the private sector, have been transferred to the CDRRMO complemented by concerned departments and offices as provided in Executive Order (EO) No. 5.
“There is a need to streamline the functions of the EOC-TF to simplify and improve the efficiency of services to our people,” Benitez said.
The mayor noted that Bacolod, which is currently under Alert Level 1, has maintained the downtrend in Covid-19 cases thus, the city government must step up to transition to the new normal and strategize plans and actions towards recovery and resiliency.
In his directive, Benitez, who now chairs the Covid-19 Action Team, said he aims to create a simplified and systematic procedure to appropriately respond to the needs of Covid-19 patients in a timely manner.
He added the city must optimize resource management to ensure sustainability and adaptability of the local government unit in responding to the current situations relative to Covid-19.
“We want to ensure that regular data and status updates are reported to the relevant local and national agencies and updates on policies and guidelines from national agencies related to Covid-19 are properly implemented,” the mayor said.
Benitez stressed the need for coordinated and collaborative action with the various stakeholders, including all local and national counterparts.
He tasked the City Health Office (CHO) to be responsible for the vaccination campaign and management of the testing team as well as of the Bacolod Respiratory Outpatient Center and City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit.
The CHO has also been assigned to take charge of the data collection and management, and status reporting; teleconsult services; information, education and training of medical personnel; patient monitoring and contact tracing; and mental health, counseling, and wellness program.
The management of the One Hospital Command Center and the temporary treatment and monitoring facilities will be supervised by the CHO as well.
For its part, the CDRRMO will be responsible for the quick response action plan along with the quarantine, isolation, disinfection, and extraction activities.
It is also tasked to provide logistical and transport services in the delivery of vaccines, food and non-food items, and data reporting.
Source: Philippines News Agency
