BY CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
The Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod is urging the Department of Health, Department of Interior and Local Government and the local government to extend the tenure and/or renew the assignment of their respective augmentation personnel in assisting the City of Bacolod combat the emergence of COVID-19 in the light of the new surge of the virus and its new variant called Omicron.
The resolution authored by Councilor Renecito Novero said that in order to help combat the emergence of COVID-19 in 2020 to 2021, the City of Bacolod was provided by the DOH a good number of human resource augmentation personnel for temporary treatment and monitoring of the city quarantine and isolation facilities.
For the same purpose, the city was also accorded by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) a good number of human resource personnel for contact tracing and encoding, it said.
This assistance from the DOH and DILG effectively enabled the city to manage well the COVID-19 crisis in Bacolod City and considerably helped reduce the number of infected individuals before 2021 ended, the resolution said.
The respective assignment/designation of these augmentation personnel already terminated upon the close of 2021 and thus necessitate its prompt renewal, it said.
The resolution said the concern was thoroughly discussed in the meeting of the City Emergency Operation Center (EOC) on January 9 presided over by Mayor Evelio Leonardia, and EOC executive director Em Ang and acting City Health Officer Dr. Edwin Miraflor suggested for the immediate renewal of these augmentation forces especially in the light of the current new surge of COVID-19 and its new variant called Omicron.*
