ILOILO CITY—The Department of Health (DOH) clarified that there’s no lockdown at Western Visayas regional office in this city.
“We have to ensure that services must not be hampered by this time pandemic,” said Dr. Bea Natalaray, chief for non-communicable diseases of DOH-Region 6.
“We are in a skeletal workforce only,” Natalaray responded to a question posed by Manila Bulletin in an online press conference late Tuesday afternoon, August 24.
This was hours after Mayor Jerry Treñas of Iloilo City announced that the DOH regional office located in Mandurriao district is placed on “lockdown immediately” after two of its employees were confirmed to have been infected with COVID-19’s Delta variant.
Natalaray disclosed that the DOH Region 6 office did receive a letter from Treñas, but the city mayor’s letter is a mere suggestion for a lockdown.
Natalaray noted that the two DOH Region 6 employees who were infected by the Delta variant have already recovered and have not been in the regional office for almost a month already.
Natalaray emphasized that DOH is a vital government agency and it cannot shutdown its operations for Western Visayas.
The DOH Region 6 is facilitating services such as vaccine distribution and others of the national government to local government units (LGUs) in Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, and Negros Occidental provinces as well as the highly urbanized cities of Iloilo.
Natalaray also pointed out that 96 percent of DOH Region 6’s workforce have already been vaccinated.
The DOH Region 6 also clarified that it has been implementing a work-from-home arrangement and not all employees are physically at its office in Mandurriao district.