THE Baguio City Council has approved a resolution urging the City Health Services Office (CHSO) to distribute immunity-boosting medicines and supplements to the city’s residents.
The resolution, authored by Councilor Mylen Yaranon, recommends the appropriation of available funding from the city’s general fund for the purchase of these medicines.
These medicines and vitamins are intended to be provided for individuals with comorbidities and preexisting conditions, in particular indigents, unemployed, and elderly citizens who are unable to acquire medication on their own.
According to the resolution, the vast majority of COVID-19 cases in the city have recovered successfully, with less than two percent having directly died from the disease.
But, Yaranon pointed out, data shows that most of the deaths were due to comorbidities and preexisting conditions that were worsened by COVID-19.
As such, the resolution urges the CHSO to take action to acquire and distribute medicine, supplements, and vitamins that can then be provided to vulnerable comorbid individuals to help protect them from the disease.
To achieve this, the CHSO is being asked to coordinate with the barangays of the city, who will then be in charge of distributing any acquired medicine and supplements to vulnerable individuals in their jurisdictions.
As part of the distribution effort, the resolution directs barangay health workers to survey their areas of responsibility to come up with a master list of vulnerable individuals to be monitored in their barangays.
