Quarantine manager position: No takers

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet: The provincial government said it had become difficult to recruit a specialist to run its quarantine facility even as it noted a surge in confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 ( Covid- 19) cases.

Gov. Melchor Diclas said there were still no takers of the position of specialist being offered to medical professionals to start full operation of the provincial quarantine facility located in Barangay Wangal.

Meanwhile, he added that the operation of the quarantine facility entailed more or less P2 million monthly, an amount that could exhaust the province’s meager resources.

The governor said there were interested applicants for the other jobs in the quarantine facility, but it was difficult to convince medical professionals to accept the key position in the facility despite the availability of physicians.

A measure being considered by the provincial government, according Diclas, is to pool specialists from the Benguet General Hospital ( BeGH) and the other district hospitals in the province for them to render volunteer duty at the 30- bed quarantine facility on a rotation basis to make it operational.

He said the BeGH is still capable of acCOMMODATING CONfiRMED COVID-19 PATIENTS.

From the 14 confirmed cases as of June 10, the number surged to 36 as of June 18.

At present, the provincial government is coordinating with the administration of Benguet State University for the operation of the BSU dormitory as an additional quarantine facility subject to approval of the Commission on Higher Education.