By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Bacolod City Councilor Em Ang said the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) had passed a resolution urging all barangays in the city to immediately conduct an intensified information and education campaign on dengue in their respective jurisdictions, and to urge residents to destroy breeding places of mosquitoes.
This comes after records from the Bacolod City Health Office (CHO) shows there are already 286 recorded cases in the city, in which four have died of the illness.
Ang said the barangays with highest dengue cases during the period from January 1 to May 6 are Handumanan – 30; Mansilingan – 25; Alijis, Mandalagan, Estefania and Granada – 20, Villamonte and Sum-ag – 18; Tangub – 17; Taculing – 16; Banago – 12; Singcang-Airport and Vista Alegre – 11; Pahanocoy – 8; Barangay 1 – 7; Barangay 2 and Bata – 4; Barangays 37, 23, 27, 35 and Cabug – 2 each; and Barangays 9, 13, 8, 33, 18, 28, 6, 40, 7, 16, 17, 29, 10, 31 and Felisa with one each.
She added every barangay should be proactive and must take necessary preventive measures in order to control the rise of dengue cases, and it is incumbent upon the city government of Bacolod through the CHO to act before dengue becomes a health crisis in the City.
Meanwhile, Ang said her office recently distributed medicines in the Bacolod City District Jail in Barangay Handumanan and Taculing.
According to her, she received information from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) of the current situation at the Handumanan jail where many of the inmates fell sick and do not receive proper medical attention.
She also stressed some of the inmates are also getting infected due to the high congestion of the prison cells.
Many of the inmates also suffer hypertension and other conditions that need maintenance treatment, she added./WDJ