The City Government of Davao, through the City Health Office (CHO), conducted simulation exercise (SIMEX) to test the efficiency and the readiness of the city’s health emergency response program.
The exercise was supervised by the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CDRRMO), and was held in Barangay 19-B on July 30.
Dr. Luis Jose V. Presbitero, City Epidemiology Surveillance and Disaster Response Unit (CESDRU) Division Chief, said the CHO is conducting a SIMEX on Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases (ERED) to ensure the preparedness of the city’s health sector in addressing outbreaks of infectious diseases.
“Isa kini (ERED) sa atoang mga ginabantayan nga kaning mga klase sa sakit kay ang uban ani wala pa nato na encounter (We are preparing for these kinds of diseases especially because there are diseases that we haven’t encountered yet),” he said.
During the SIMEX, an Ebola outbreak was simulated. Presbitero said that in 2014, following the directive of the then city mayor Rodrigo Duterte, the city created an Ebola contingency plan after the spread of the virus in Central and Western Africa.
He added that in the same year, the city was the only local government unit in the country which had an Ebola contingency plan. Prisbetero explained that they simulated an Ebola outbreak as it is one of the most lethal diseases that could hit the people with an almost 70 percent mortality rate.
Presbitero also said that the SIMEX is not only essential to further prepare the city should an infectious disease outbreak occur, but also it is important to test the city’s ERED program and the city’s Disaster Risk Reduction Management in Health.
“We can never say that we are fully ready. We are trying to reach a level of readiness that we think is adequate but we can never be comfortable enough,” Presbitero added.
The SIMEX was participated in by the city’s emergency response sector including the Philippine Red Cross, Central 911, Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Coast Guard, Barangay Disaster Risk Response Management Committee, Task Force Davao, and the CHO’s ambulance service provider. The city’s information arm, the City Information Office, was also present in the activity. CIO
