Discrimination Spreads Over Iloilo City, Province Amid COVID-19 Spread
ILOILO CITY – Due to a rapid increase of the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), people get more and more anxious to the point that discrimination spreads like wildfire.
Local officials caught wind of this and asked the public to be more compassionate, according to an article from Panay News.
Discrimination is felt strongly in the towns of Guimbal and Lambunao, which have positive COVID-19 transmissions. Residents there sought treatment from health problems unaffiliated by the virus but medical facilities turned them away.
AAMBIS-Owwa party-list’s Rep. Sharon Garin said that the thing that could more likely destroy the society is discrimination and not the virus.
Garin has a pregnant staff set for cesarean delivery in Iloilo Doctors’ Hospital but the latter rejected her. The staff then proceeded to West Visayas State University Medical Center but it, too, turned away.
“My staff will be all right. We will do our utmost to sort this out. But this should not have happened,”
The discrimination followed after the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6 classified all residents of Guimbal as persons under monitoring (PUMs) due to a confirmed case in the said town. The department later renounced the declaration after receiving backlash.
Garin urged Ilonggos not to let the virus kill humanity as well.
As per the report, the residence of the first case in Lambunao town was showered with stones after confirmation of DOH that the all family members of the patient were also tested positive.
Jason Gonzales, ex-mayor of Lamburao and Sangguniang Panlalawigan member lamented that human empathy was no longer present.
Like Guimbal, residents of Lambunao with health conditions other than the virus were also rejected by medical facilities.
Dr. Ricardo Y. Ladrido Memorial Hospital (DRYMH) catering PUIs for viral infection was said to be the reason for the rejection.
“As a result of this designation, coupled with confirmed COVID-19 infections in our town, our residents have been stigmatized,”
Furthermore, frontliners in the said hospital also faced the harsh effect of the designation of the hospital the town did not ask for. The hospital further closed its general and pediatric services due to the designation.
“I am calling for compassion on the part of administrators of other hospitals in the province and city of Iloilo. Do not discriminate Lambunao residents who seek treatment in your hospitals,”
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