COVID-19 patients
THE Department of Health (DOH) ought to be commended for assuring the public that dialysis centers are mandated to serve patients with coronavirus disease 2019.
A dialysis center, public and private, plays a crucial role in planning for and responding to a public health emergency.
In medicine, dialysis is the process of removing excess water, solutes and toxins from the blood in people whose kidneys can no longer perform these functions naturally.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III from vote-rich Pangasinan said these dialysis centers should not turn away people afflicted with the dreaded and deadly disease.
Anyway, there are measures that dialysis centers could take to prevent infection while providing treatment to their clients with COVID 2019, said Duque, a medical doctor.
“We pity these patients. It cannot be that (the dialysis centers) would turn their backs on them just because they have COVID-19,” according to the health department.
In the view of various quarters, the government, through concerned offices and agencies, must see to it that medical facilities serve the people without fear nor favor.
Like other well-meaning Filipinos, we share the view of many that staff of the country’s dialysis centers could wear personal protective equipment while treating patients.
After all, personnel of hospitals and other medical facilities are trained to ensure their health and safety while attending to the needs of patients with highly-infectious diseases.
Thus, dialysis centers would do well to heed the call of the DOH if indeed they have the heart and the mind for the good health of the public even during the COVID-19 pandemic.
