By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Bacolod City Councilor Cindy Rojas, who chairs the Sangguniang Panlungsod Committee on Health, introduced a resolution calling for City Health Office (CHO) and the Department of Social Services and Development (DSSD) to intensify their information and education drives on polio by emphasizing the importance of getting vaccinated.
The resolution cited last month’s declaration by the Department of Health (DOH) regarding a “polio epidemic” in Lanao del Sur.
Rojas called CHO and DSSD the “implementing arm” of the city as they must ensure local residents are provided with a “dynamic and responsive healthcare program” and “much-needed basic social services.”
Last month, the DOH Center for Health Development-Region VI announced they would be strengthening their routine immunization program.
Medical officer IV, Dr. Renilyn Reyes, explained the department’s “routine immunizations,” which includes doses of the polio vaccine for babies when they turn sex weeks old, 10 weeks old, and 14 weeks old.
“We strongly urge parents, health workers, and local governments to fully participate in the synchronized polio vaccination,” urged DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III after the news of the polio diagnosis broke. “It is the only way to stop the polio outbreak and to protect your child against this paralyzing disease.”
“Aside from immunization, we remind the public to practice good personal hygiene, wash their hands regularly, use toilets, drink safe water, and cook food thoroughly,” he added./DGB, WDJ