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Showing posts with label PAMPANGA. Show all posts

Friday, August 11, 2017

People are Advised to Be Careful With Stray Birds: State of Calamity in Pampanga Province

The governor of Pampanga province has declared a state of calamity in the entire province due to a bird flu outbreak in one of its towns, the first in the Philippines. This is after Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol confirmed that a strain of the avian influenza virus was confirmed in San Luis town, affecting mostly layer poultry farms which produce table eggs. Around 37,000 fowls, mostly quail and ducks, have died of the Avian Influenza Type A Subtype H5 in recent months. Six farms in Barangays San Carlos and Santa Rita in San Luis, Pampanga were affected by the outbreak. 3 farms suffered a 100 percent death rate of its fowls, while overall mortality rate in the affected area was placed at 34.5 percent. The Department of Agriculture (DA) has ordered a ban on the transport of poultry from Luzon to other parts of the country until further notice. Fowls and eggs from the controlled area are not allowed to be brought out. This is to ensure that the outbreak will be controlled. Twelve quarantine teams are guarding exit routes with power sprays to disinfect vehicles coming out of the quarantine area. Ninety quarantine officers have been sent to the area to enforce quarantine measures with assistance from police. The ongoing crisis may affect the supply of eggs in the market, but not chicken. Investigation of the outbreak began last Aug. 4, Piñol said. But deaths of quail and ducks began on the last week of April, followed by reported deaths of chickens in May. The Agriculture Department has yet to confirm the source of the outbreak. The DA is looking into two major angles for the infection: contact with migratory birds and smuggling in of Peking duck. Research Institute for Tropical Medicine Assistant Director Celia Carlos said tests confirmed that the virus found in the outbreak area did not have the H5N1 strain. Samples will be sent to Australia to confirm its exact strain and results are expected in two weeks. Meanwhile, around 200,000 fowls within the 1-km radius quarantine area of San Luis town will be culled, burned and buried in the next 3 days to control the outbreak. Another 7-km radius controlled area has also been declared. The quarantine will last for a period of 90 days. The farmers whose fowls will be culled shall be compensated by the government. Loan programs will also be made available to poultry farmers affected by the outbreak. "We assured them that government would compensate and, initially, it was agreed that we would compensate at a rate of P80 per head," Sec. Piñol said. Avian influenza is a viral infection that spreads among birds but can infect humans as well. As of Friday, authorities have not received any report of human infection. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), human infection is primarily acquired through direct contact with infected animals. They also clarified that there is no evidence that the avian flu can be acquired by eating properly cooked eggs or poultry. The infection may cause diseases such as mild conjunctivitis or swelling of the eyes, severe pneumonia and even death. Interaction with infected people does not result in "efficient transmission" of the flu. Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial said the outbreak is still under the DA's investigation and advised the public to take precautionary measures against the flu. "Do not go near wild birds or go to farms with fowls! If you have flu symptoms that last longer than 3 days or feel very weak, see a doctor or go to the nearest hospital for testing if its bird flu!" she said.

PUBLIC are advised to be careful about stray birds for possible BIRD FLU contamination.

UPDATE!!!

The governor of Pampanga province has declared a state of calamity in the entire province due to a bird flu outbreak in one of its towns, the first in the Philippines. This is after Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol confirmed that a strain of the avian influenza virus was confirmed in San Luis town, affecting mostly layer poultry farms which produce table eggs.
Around 37,000 fowls, mostly quail and ducks, have died of the Avian Influenza Type A Subtype H5 in recent months. Six farms in Barangays San Carlos and Santa Rita in San Luis, Pampanga were affected by the outbreak.

3 farms suffered a 100 percent death rate of its fowls, while overall mortality rate in the affected area was placed at 34.5 percent.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has ordered a ban on the transport of poultry from Luzon to other parts of the country until further notice. Fowls and eggs from the controlled area are not allowed to be brought out. This is to ensure that the outbreak will be controlled.

Twelve quarantine teams are guarding exit routes with power sprays to disinfect vehicles coming out of the quarantine area. Ninety quarantine officers have been sent to the area to enforce quarantine measures with assistance from police.

The ongoing crisis may affect the supply of eggs in the market, but not chicken.

Investigation of the outbreak began last Aug. 4, Piñol said. But deaths of quail and ducks began on the last week of April, followed by reported deaths of chickens in May.

The Agriculture Department has yet to confirm the source of the outbreak. The DA is looking into two major angles for the infection: contact with migratory birds and smuggling in of Peking duck.

Research Institute for Tropical Medicine Assistant Director Celia Carlos said tests confirmed that the virus found in the outbreak area did not have the H5N1 strain. Samples will be sent to Australia to confirm its exact strain and results are expected in two weeks.

Meanwhile, around 200,000 fowls within the 1-km radius quarantine area of San Luis town will be culled, burned and buried in the next 3 days to control the outbreak. Another 7-km radius controlled area has also been declared. The quarantine will last for a period of 90 days.

The farmers whose fowls will be culled shall be compensated by the government. Loan programs will also be made available to poultry farmers affected by the outbreak. "We assured them that government would compensate and, initially, it was agreed that we would compensate at a rate of P80 per head," Sec. Piñol said.

Avian influenza is a viral infection that spreads among birds but can infect humans as well. As of Friday, authorities have not received any report of human infection.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), human infection is primarily acquired through direct contact with infected animals. They also clarified that there is no evidence that the avian flu can be acquired by eating properly cooked eggs or poultry.

The infection may cause diseases such as mild conjunctivitis or swelling of the eyes, severe pneumonia and even death. Interaction with infected people does not result in "efficient transmission" of the flu.

Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial said the outbreak is still under the DA's investigation and advised the public to take precautionary measures against the flu. "Do not go near wild birds or go to farms with fowls! If you have flu symptoms that last longer than 3 days or feel very weak, see a doctor or go to the nearest hospital for testing if its bird flu!" she said.

sources: ABS-CBN, GMA News

Check Here How Much is Your PhilHealth Cash Benefit for a Specific Illness (TAGALOG GRAPHICS)

This blog post features a variety of comprehensive health care services -from basic primary care to catastrophic packages to provide Philhealth and OFW members and their families with the information they need on CASH benefits and and links on benefits availment. It also includes links to Philhealth website to know more on eligibility requirements, coverage, general guidelines for specific diseases and selections criteria among others. The following are the PhilHealth Cash Benefits. Case Rate for hemodialysis is P2,600 per session Case Rate for outpatient blood transfusion is P3,640 (one or more units) Ovarian Cystectomy Unilateral or Bilateral = P23,300 Thyroidectomy Total or Complete Cash Benefits P31,000 Tonsillectomy Primary or Secondary = P18,000 Moderate Risk Pneumonia = P15,000 High Risk Pneumonia = P32,000 Primary Care Moderate Risk Pneumonia = P10,500 Tubal Ligation = P4,000 NSD or Normal Spontaneous Delivery for Lying In = P6,500 Hospitals = P5,000 Pre-Natal = P1,500 Viral Hepatitis P11,800 Intrauterine Device Insertion or IUD = P2,000 Rheumatic Fever = P10,100 Vasectomy Unilateral o Bilateral = P4,000 Cerebral Infarction = P28,000 Appendectomy = P24,000 Breech Extraction = P12, 120 Tubal Ligation = P4,000 Cerebral Palsy = P9,500 Cellulities = P9,600 Cataract Surgery = P16,000 Cholecystectomy = P31,000 Caesarian Section = P19,000 Chronic Cholecystitis = P11,300 Newborn Care Package = P1,750 Congenital Anemia = P15,200 Vasectomy Unilateral and Bilateral = P4,000 Emphysema = P11,400 Dengue Fever = P10,000 Severe Dengue = P16,000 Upper Respiratory Tract Infection (URTI) Hospitals = P4,000 URTI Primary Care Facilities = P2,800 Congenital Syphilis = P12,800 Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) = P12,200 Asthma in Acute Exacerbation for Hospitals = P9,000 In Primary Care Facilities for Asthma = P6,300 Diabetes Mellitus with Complications other than Coma and Ketosis = P12,600 Congenital Hypothyroidism = P9,900 Emphysema = P11,400 Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Standard Risk = P550,000 Expanded Z Morph Package for Prosthesis- Above Elbow = P70,000 Expanded Z Morph Package for Prosthesis - Hip Disarticulation = P135,000 Cervical Cancer Chemoradiation with Cobalt and Brachytheraphy= P120,000 Cervical Cancer Chemoradiation with Linear and Brachytheraphy= P175,000 Colon Cancer Stage 1 and 2 Low Risk = P150,000 Colon Cancer Stage 2 High Risk to Stage 3 = P300,000 Expanded Z Morph Package Spinal Cervicothoracic = P45,000 Expanded Z Morph Package Spinal - Thoralumbosacral = P40,000 Expanded Z Morph Package Spinal -Lumbosacral = P30,000 Breast Cancer Early Stage 0 to Stage 3A = P100,000 Acute Lymphocytic/Lymphoblastic Leukemia Standard Risk = P210,000 Kidney Transplantation = End Stage Renal Disease (Low Risk) = P600,000 Expanded Z Morph Package Prosthesis - Below Elbow = P50,000 Expanded Z Morph Package Prosthesis - Above Knee/Knee Disarticulation = P70,000 Expanded Z Morph Package Ortho/Prosthesis - Ankle Foot = P17,500 Expanded Z Morph Package Orthoses - Hip Knee Ankle Foot = P80,000 Expanded Z Morph Package Prosthesis - Van Ness Rotationplasty = P85,000

President Duterte Signs Laws Extending Passport and Driver License Validity

President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law on Wednesday Republic Act 10928 extending the validity of Philippine passports to 10 years. The new law states that “Regular passports under this act shall be valid for a period of 10 years. Provided, however, that for individuals under 18 years of age, only a passport with five-year validity shall be issued.” Republic Act 10928 amends Republic Act 8239 or the Philippine Passport Act of 1996. The new law also states that the issuing authority may limit the validity to less than 10 years in cases where national economic interest or political stability is at stake. But do not get excited that the Department of Foreign Affairs will issue passports with longer validities soon. The DFA has to prepare the implementing rules and regulations of RA 10928 first, to ensure that its provisions will be implemented. The President also signed Republic Act 10930, which extends the length of the driver's license’s validity to 5 years. The law amends Section 23 of RA 4136 or the Land Transportation and Traffic Code, which set a three-year validity for the license. “Except for student permits, all drivers’ licenses shall be valid for five years reckoned from the birth date of the licensee, unless sooner revoked or suspended,” the new law says. Under the law's Section 23, a driver holding a license with a 5-year validity may even be granted a license with a 10-year validity upon renewal if found that he or she has “not committed any violation of RA 4136 and other traffic laws, rules and regulations.” The law also mandates the establishment of stricter rules before the issuance of driver’s licenses. A fine of P20,000 shall be imposed on a driver’s license applicant if found to have misrepresented material information in his or her application, connived with the officer in the irregular conduct of examinations or issuance of license, falsified documents, or cheated during examinations. Both laws will be enforced and take effect take effect 15 days after publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation. The DFA and LTO will now write and publish the implementing rules and regulations for each of their jurisdictions.

Deadly Flu Strikes Hong Kong As Chief Executive Calls For Action

Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam has called on the Hospital Authority to come up with urgent measures “very soon” as medical facilities grapple with a flu crisis that has left 208 people dead since May. The unusually strong outbreak of summer flu was putting hospitals under pressure, with patients waiting for at least six hours to see doctors. Those being admitted for confinement after initial treatment took up to 15 hours to get a hospital bed. As of last week, the overall occupation rate of general medical wards at public hospitals was 111%. The rate at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kowloon was 124%, while at Pok Oi Hospital, Yuen Long, and Prince of Wales Hospital, Sha Tin, it was 122% and 120% respectively. Dr Cheung Wai-lun, the Health Authority’s acting chief executive, said the flu outbreak this year was “unusual" and that “In the past two weeks, some 1,000 patients needed to be admitted to general medical wards of public hospitals every day. Usually, such a situation would last about two or three days and we would be able to cope with it. But this year, it lasted for more than 10 days,” he said. Some hospitals had resorted to adding more beds, or offering a subsidy to get medical staff on holiday back to work. Non-urgent surgery had also been postponed. He warned the flu season could stretch beyond October and urged the sick to be patient. The health authority announced an extra HK$20 million in spending to secure 48 beds at a private hospital over the next two months to cope with the crisis. That is on top of the extra 8,300 places offered at public general outpatient clinics. Letters have been sent to all doctors from the Department of Health asking them to work part-time in the clinics outside their working hours, but fewer than 10 doctors have volunteered to work at overcrowded public hospitals on their days off. A top infectious diseases expert has warned that the mutation of a dominant flu strain may be the factor behind the surge of cases this summer. Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, chair professor of Hong Kong University's microbiology department, said the dominant strain influenza A H3N2 in the city this summer might have mutated in a way that made vaccines used in the past two years ineffective. This “antigenic variation” in the A(H3N2) virus was also recently found by Danish researchers. They concluded "low vaccine effectiveness" against this particular strain of the flu virus A(H3N2). Official figures showed that close to 41 per cent of respiratory specimens taken by the authority last week tested positive for flu viruses, reaching a new high this year. The number of H3N2 virus samples tested with mutation had increased from 20 per cent in March to more than 35 per cent in May this year. At the same time, the effectiveness of the vaccines administered to the public late last year was diminishing – lasting about only six months. It is not clear how many among the sick or have died involve Overseas Filipino Workers. Hong Kong has a huge number of foreign domestic helpers, mainly from the Philippines and Indonesia. But a recent facebook post showed a Filipino travelling from Israel via Hong Kong has died in a hospital there. The case is yet under investigation. See details below: source: SCMP

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Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Inspiring: Elementary Student Graduated With 58 Medals

At this age where children love to stay on the couch holding their tablets and mobile phones, an elementary student chooses to be active in school and swimming which made him the "heaviest" elementary graduate on earth.

A student in Mabalacat, Pampanga raked 58 medals from academic and different fields. On his Facebook post, he said that this time it's heavier compared to the medals he got last year.
Joshua Santiago, 12, graduated in Elementary at Mabiga Mabalacat Elementary School in Mabalacat Pampanga earlier this month. His video post with over a million views as of this writing shows how many medals he got. Most of his medals are from the swimming competitions where he joined and won including a chance to participate at the Palarong pambansa.

His dedication and determination paid off as he graduated. This little guy inspired everyone around him especially his teammates and classmates. To collect more than 10 medals would be enough but for him it was unbelievable.

In a facebook status, his mother made a clarification that those 58 medals was from his being an excellent swimmer and from his academic excellence. He was also awarded as "Athlete of the Year".

Read More:

China's plans to hire Filipino household workers to their five major cities including Beijing and Shanghai, was reported at a local newspaper Philippine Star. it could be a big break for the household workers who are trying their luck in finding greener pastures by working overseas China is offering up to P100,000 a month, or about HK$15,000. The existing minimum allowable wage for a foreign domestic helper in Hong Kong is around HK$4,310 per month. Dominador Say, undersecretary of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), said that talks are underway with Chinese embassy officials on this possibility. China’s five major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen will soon be the haven for Filipino domestic workers who are seeking higher income. DOLE is expected to have further negotiations on the launch date with a delegation from China in September. according to Usec Say, Chinese employers favor Filipino domestic workers for their English proficiency, which allows them to teach their employers’ children. Chinese embassy officials also mentioned that improving ties with the leadership of President Rodrigo Duterte has paved the way for the new policy to materialize. There is presently a strict work visa system for foreign workers who want to enter mainland China. But according Usec. Say, China is serious about the proposal. Philippine Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said an estimated 200,000 Filipino domestic helpers are presently working illegally in China. With a great demand for skilled domestic workers, Filipino OFWs would have an option to apply using legal processes on their desired higher salary for their sector. Source: ejinsight.com, PhilStar Read More: The effectivity of the Nationwide Smoking Ban or E.O. 26 (Providing for the Establishment of Smoke-free Environment in Public and Enclosed Places) started today, July 23, but only a few seems to be aware of it. President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Executive Order 26 with the citizens health in mind. Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said the executive order is a milestone where the government prioritize public health protection. The smoking ban includes smoking in places such as schools, universities and colleges, playgrounds, restaurants and food preparation areas, basketball courts, stairwells, health centers, clinics, public and private hospitals, hotels, malls, elevators, taxis, buses, public utility jeepneys, ships, tricycles, trains, airplanes, and gas stations which are prone to combustion. The Department of Health urges all the establishments to post "no smoking" signs in compliance with the new executive order. They also appeal to the public to report any violation against the nationwide ban on smoking in public places. Read More: ©2017 THOUGHTSKOTO www.jbsolis.com SEARCH JBSOLIS, TYPE KEYWORDS and TITLE OF ARTICLE at the box below Smoking is only allowed in designated smoking areas to be provided by the owner of the establishment. Smoking in private vehicles parked in public areas is also prohibited. What Do You Need To know About The Nationwide Smoking Ban Violators will be fined P500 to P10,000, depending on their number of offenses, while owners of establishments caught violating the EO will face a fine of P5,000 or imprisonment of not more than 30 days. The Department of Health urges all the establishments to post "no smoking" signs in compliance with the new executive order. They also appeal to the public to report any violation against the nationwide ban on smoking in public places. ©2017 THOUGHTSKOTO

Dominador Say, undersecretary of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), said that talks are underway with Chinese embassy officials on this possibility. China’s five major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen will soon be the destination for Filipino domestic workers who are seeking higher income.

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