DAGUPAN CITY, Pangasinan – The provincial government of Pangasinan is apparently closing its doors to COVID-19 patients of the National Capital Region (NCR) who would wish to be accommodated here.

Governor Amado Espino III issued a statement, saying that their hospitals will only accommodate Pangasinense patients suffering from the virus.

To ensure no patient from outside the province enters without proper coordination, Espino said the provincial government is relentless in its contact with local government units and national government agencies manning Pangasinan’s border control checkpoints.

Espino added that the provincial technical working group is to create a set of protocols between hospitals and isolation facilities in Pangasinan and the NCR plus bubble.

According to the records of provincial Health Officer Dr. Anna de Guzman, only two patients from the NCR were admitted in the previous weeks, but this happened prior to placing the NCR plus bubble under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

“Inilalaan ang mga ito (hospitals) para sa mga kababayan na posibleng tamaan ng virus. (We are providing these hospitals to our locals who may be hit by the virus),” said de Guzman.

As of this writing, the bed capacity of hospitals in the province has reached 80%.

The halfway house in Santa Barbara and isolation center in Burgos town are on standby if the hospital beds reach full capacity. It will also serve as the isolation area for patients who are at the latter part of their recovery to complete their treatment.

As of Tuesday, April 6, the PHO has recorded 641 active cases, 267 deats, and 5,179 recoveries.

Dagupan City tops the list with 53 active cases, followed by Malasiqui with 45 cases, Alaminos City, Urdaneta City, Tayug, and Calasiao with 41, 40, 35, and 31 cases respectively.

Meantime, more than 15,000 health front liners in the province of Pangasinan have been inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccines.

To count, de Guzman said there are 15,747 medical front liners inoculated.

“These individuals are included in the priority eligible population, namely priority groups A1.1, and A1.2”, said de Guzman.

While inoculation for health workers in private and public hospitals in the region have been completed, while vaccination for health workers in local health centers are ongong.

Next on the list will be barangay health workers, and members of the barangay health emergency response team (BHERT).