PAGASA-Cebu warns public to be overly cautious against extreme heavy rains
By Fayette C. Riñen
CEBU CITY, Sept. 22 (PIA) – Three major causes of death in extreme weather conditions are landslides, drowning and electrocution as the PAGASA-Mactan here warned the public to be overly cautious during strong heavy rains even in the absence of a typhoon.
PAGASA-Mactan Chief Meteorological Officer Oscar Tabada said that rain-causing phenomena such as thunderstorms, cold front, inter-tropical convergence zone, easterly wave and tropical cyclones are events that dump deeply-intense rains that could be a triggering factor to cause death.
“What is more dangerous today in natural calamities is that even without a typhoon signal, rain-causing phenomena can now cause deaths. It is very important for the public to know this especially those residents in danger zone areas prone to landslides, flashfloods and flooding,” according to Tabada.
Tabada issued the warning because the La Niña conditions have returned and are expected to gradually strengthen and continue into the Northern Hemisphere winter until next year.
The forecast of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Climate Center said that for September 2011, there would be above normal precipitation in some parts of the country, Tabada added.
Due to global warming, occurrence of strong rains are expected to be frequent and this is the reality as Tabada recommended the public not to go swimming during heavy rains and to be extremely careful against hanging electric wires when walking in wet roads.
This month alone, Tabada said the country expects two typhoons to enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) and another eight more typhoons till yearend.
Tabada said they have already installed around 100 automatic weather stations mostly placed inside school grounds that serve as a community-based warning system that indicates how deep the floodwaters are already due to abrupt strong rains.
“The device will gauge the deepness of the flood and if the flood reaches 30 millimeters then that is already considered a dangerous sign,” Tabada disclosed. (PIA-Cebu)
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Cebu City mayor lauds PUJ drivers for not taking part in Monday’s transport strike
By: Amor Saludar
CEBU CITY, September 21 (PIA) -- Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama lauded Cebuano PUJ drivers for not taking part in Monday’s nationwide transport strike initiated by a transport group in Manila in protest to rising oil prices.
Rama admitted that transport strike can really create a big hassle to the public but assured that the Cebu City government is always ready to serve as a conveyance to the public in case PUJ drivers launch a transport strike here.
Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (CITOM) Executive Director Rafael Yap on the other hand, said that if the Cebu transport groups had joined the nationwide transport strike last Monday, it can only cause the least effect to the Cebuanos because Kaohsiung buses of the Cebu City government and barangay vehicles were on standby to ferry stranded passengers.
“Based on the previous transport strike launched in the city years ago, the Cebuanos only experienced minimal effect because the city government had already drawn a solution to address the problem,” Yap declared.
The CITOM official also pledged to act as crowd controller in order to help the police in maintaining peace and order during the different street rallies happening in concurrence to any transport strike.
Meanwhile, a PUJ driver interviewed by a local newspaper said he is not interested in joining transport strikes because it is a weary approach and cannot help solve the situation but rather, only worsens the problem.
Local transport group leader Loreto Perez said that before conducting a transport strike, it is very necessary to weigh things if it is right and essential to initiate it.
Perez also said negotiation between the government and the transport sector is very important in order to come up with a swift and transparent way of finding the proper solution to the existing problem involving the transport sector. (FCR/AS/PIA-Cebu)
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DOH-7 urges RHUs, district hospitals to set up functional psych ward
By Fayette C. Riñen
CEBU CITY, Sept. 21 (PIA) -- Rural health units (RHUs) and district hospitals in Central Visayas are urged to establish a functional psychiatric ward to address cases of mental health illness and to de-load the only psychiatric ward in the region under the government-manned Vicente SottoMemorial Medical Center (VSMMC) based in Cebu City.
Department of Health (DOH)-7 Public Information Officer Suzette Limbaga bared that since last year, their office has been calling out to the different RHUs and district hospitals throughout the region to set up a functional psychiatric ward because the VSMMC psych ward can no longer accommodate the increasing patients.
Currently, the VSMMC psych ward with only a 60-bed capacity is housing 133 patients or more than double its ideal accommodation, this is learned.
Limbaga however said advocacy drive on mental illness prevention and control is more important because “we are more focused on public health and disease prevention rather than the treatment.”
Since health has been devolved to the local government units (LGUs), it is now their call to put priority on health programs to promote health and wellness among their constituents, Limbaga disclosed.
Only the Provincial Government of Negros Oriental in Central Visayas has its own psychiatric center in its provincial hospital, this is said.
The DOH-7 info officer also said that mental health illness prevention and control program will now be given importance in the DOH programs under the Philippine Health Agenda of the Aquino Administration.
Limbaga admitted that promotion on mental health has not been given much importance before and that with the President’s support, the health department will now be more active in its advocacy on mental health promotion.
Limbaga however, noted the importance of proper training among healthcare professionals in the care and management of mentally-ill patients prior to setting up a functional psych ward which is the major problem why RHUs and public hospitals cannot set up a psych ward.
In Cebu, among the district hospitals located in the cities of Carcar, Mandaue, Talisay, Toledo and Naga, only the latter has two nurses duly trained on the management of mentally-ill patients while the rest of the healthcare staff in the other district hospitals have not undergone training, LImbaga said.
“We will now try to do something about the lack of training among healthcare professionals including the barangay health workers on mental health illness management,” Limbaga bared. (PIA-Cebu)
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DOH-7 links with Cebu-NGO to strengthen
advocacy on mental illness prevention, control
by Fayette C. Riñen
CEBU CITY, Sept. 21 (PIA) – Forging partnership to strengthen the prevention and control of mental illness is the objective of the Department of Health (DOH)-7 as it ties with the Philippine Mental Health Association (PMHA)-Cebu Chapter in time for the celebration of the Mental Health Awareness Week every second week of October.
DOH-7 public information officer Suzette Limbaga said the DOH is now trying to incorporate mental illness prevention programs into the universal health care under the Philippine Health Agenda.
“Pres. Aquino is fully supporting the mainstreaming of the mental health prevention program under the Philippine Health Agenda,” according to Limbaga during the PIA Kapihan this morning that tackled the forthcoming annual observance of Mental Health Awareness Week next month.
Dr. Glenda Basubas, PMHA-Cebu chairman in the same forum agreed saying that Pres. Aquino was even the keynote speaker during the annual convention of the Philippine Psychiatric Society in Manila early this year.
“Government and the private sector should have a strong collaboration in order to be effective in any advocacy campaign especially in the area of promoting mental health which is an important indicator of a country’s health status,” Basubas claimed.
Basubas said in observance of the Mental Health Awareness Week, the PMHA-Cebu will hold its second annual convention on October 2 under the theme “Forging Links and Bridging Gaps: Transforming Mental Health Through Leadership, Advocacy and Collaboration.”
Among the topics for discussion during the convention are the ‘State of the Nation’s Health,’ Understanding Depression: Etiology and Management,’ and the ‘Importance of Rehabilitation for Addiction and Other Behavioral Problems.’
Although Basubas could not cite figures on whether the incidence of mental disorders in Cebu is on the rise due to lack of baseline data, she cited newspaper reports on suicide cases and even the recent parricide case involving a nursing graduate who brutally murdered his own mother.
With the new collaboration with the DOH-7, Basubas expressed optimism that a real picture on the incidence of mental disorders in the province can be obtained in the near future.
“I agree with the DOH that there is a need to strengthen information and education on mental health rather than go for medication because prevention is always better than cure,” Basubas stressed. (PIA-Cebu)