DAVAO CITY—The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Barmm) would be storing more oxygen tanks ahead of another likely Delta variant-triggered surge, saying it would not solely rely on lockdowns but to prepare also to respond to actual and widespread infections.
The Bangsamoro Parliament on Tuesday approved the measure seeking to procure an additional P50 million worth of additional oxygen tanks in the Barmm.
All 51 members of the Parliament, also known as the Bangsamoro Transition Authority, voted to pass on third and final reading the BTA Bill 95 or the Oxygen Buffer Stock of 2021.
Members of the Parliament Ziaur-Rahman Adiong, Atty. Nabil Tan, Atty. Ubaida Pacasem and Engr. Baintan Ampatuan authored the measure.
Adiong said that the bill would help ensure that provincial hospitals in the region have enough supply oxygen tanks and ventilators.
He said the Philippines was dealing with the third wave of Covid-19 infection, “which has caused major hospitals across the nation, notably the Amai Pakpak Medical Center in Marawi, to reach full bed capacity.”
Other medical facilities in the Barmm have already reported high occupancy rates, citing a surge in ventilator use, Adiong said.
“The newly mutated delta variant should give us an idea on how we should respond quickly to the growing threat of these more infectious and virulent Covid-19 variants,” he said, noting that the bill was intended to prevent further Covid-19 fatalities.
Adiong emphasized that the region “could not rely solely on lockdowns, but it needed to be prepared to respond rapidly.”
The Bangsamoro Parliament, he said, “is putting ready resources to good use and can help save lives through the recently enacted measure.”
Under the bill, the additional tanks will be equitably distributed to the different provinces in the region, composed of the central Mindanao provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, and their cities of Cotabato and Marawi, and the southwestern island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
As of August 23, the Bangsamoro Inter-Agency Task Force on Covid-19 reported 52 new cases in the region.
Ampatuan and Pacasem believe that the region would experience a supply shortage, especially given the recent severity of infection caused by Delta and Lambda variants.
“This is a timely bill barring any unforeseen incidents or events caused by the pandemic,” Pacasem remarked.
With the bill’s passage, he said, oxygen tank supplies will be available to meet patients’ ventilation demands during their treatment, preventing unnecessary fatalities from the coronavirus.
The fund for the oxygen tanks would be released by the Ministry of Finance of Budget and Management to the Ministry of Health subject to the standard accounting and auditing laws, rules, and regulations.
Meanwhile, the Mindanao campus of the University of the Philippines has scheduled an online lecture and forum on “Breakthrough Infections: Bakunado na Ako, Bakit Covid [+] Ako Ngayon?”
“Breakthrough infections from Covid-19 are possible because of the high transmissibility of the Delta Variant,” it said in a briefer for the August 27 online lecture. “All vaccines are effective in minimizing the risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death. But infection is possible among those who are fully vaccinated.”
“What are the risk factors that contribute to breakthrough infections? Are breakthrough infections among the vaccinated like infections among the unvaccinated? If one has been fully-vaccinated but is Covid-19 (+), can the infection be spread within the home? How can frontliners who are fully-vaccinated continue to protect themselves from infection? What precautions are needed in hospitals to prevent the spread of the Delta variant?”
The UP-Mindanao said these are the questions to be tackled by the “STOP COVID DEATHS Webinar #67.”
Main presenter would be Dr. Regina P. Berba, head of the Hospital Infection Control Unit at the Philippine General Hospital. Reactors are: Dr. Benilda B. Galvez, retired manager of the Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine Department of the Lung Center of the Philippines; and Atty. Maria Anthonette C. Velasco, chief operating officer of the Philippine Tourism Promotion Board.
Dr. Eric Tayag, director for Knowledge Management Information Systems of the Department of Health would open the webinar and would be closed by Dr. Charlotte M. Chiong, dean of the UP College of Medicine.