CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The Department of Health (DOH) and Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) Central Luzon offices assured the anti-dengue Dengvaxia recipients to be given special treatment and free hospitalization on both private and public hospitals.
This was confirmed by DOH and Philhealth Region-III officers during the Provincial Dengue Summit on Friday held at Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center, this city.
In Pampanga, there were around 47, 358 who were vaccinated with Dengvaxia, 71 were diagnosed with dengue and two died.
According to Vice President Walter Bacareza, Philhealth Region-III office, the medical expenses of the Dengvaxia recipients once confined to any public and private hospital would be fully paid by them.
Meanwhile, Dr. Leonita Gorgolon, DOH Region-III office Director IV, said that the students who had the anti-dengue vaccine will be given Identification Cards (ID), to be given by nurses and to be attached to the children’s school ID, as a proof that they were recipients of the Dengvaxia and for them to be prioritized by the hospital’s staff once admitted.
“Through this ID, we will have enough information about when was the students vaccinated with Dengvaxia and how many injections they had,” said Gorgolon.
She added that the hospital’s staff will know on how to treat the patients through the IDs provided by the DOH once the students had fever.
Gorgolon also said that the DOH also have a list of the students who received the anti-dengue vaccine.
Dengvaxia was distributed to around 800,000 Filipino students from public schools in a school-based government immunization program started last April 2016.
However, the Sanofi Pasteur, a multinational pharmaceutical company who introduced the Dengvaxia, later announced that the anti-dengue vaccine had potential severe dengue risks among those who had not diagnosed with the disease before. But the vaccine maker said there were no reported deaths caused by Dengvaxia.
The ensuing panic prompted the DOH to suspend its distribution program on December 2017 and for the Senate to investigate the P3.5 billion spent to it.
Provincial Dengue Summit was attended by Governor Lilia “Nanay” Pineda, DOH Secretary Dr. Francisco Duque III, DOH and PhilHealth Central Luzon officers, Jose B. Lingad Memorial Regional Hospital officers, provincial board members, local mayors and Barangay Health Workers.
By: Leslie Anne Mahusay
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