A YET to be vaccinated 58-year old Non-Uniformed Personnel (NUP) from Eastern Visayas has been recorded as the 116th COVID-19 fatality in the Philippine National Police.

Citing a report from the PNP Health Service, General Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar said that the civilian employee manifested difficulty of breathing and cough last September 19 and was brought by his family to Northern Samar Provincial Hospital for consultation.

However, attending physicians referred him to another hospital in Tacloban City claiming some of their machines are allegedly not functioning properly.

However, when the patient was already ready for transfer the next day, his condition worsened and he was intubated due to difficulty of breathing.

The scheduled hospital transfer was aborted after the patient tested positive for COVID-19 when subjected to an RT-PCR test.

Last September 21, the patient suffered cardiac arrest and was later on pronounced dead by his attending physician.

The NUP’s medical records showed that he has existing comorbidities such as gastrointestinal rheumatic disease, anxiety, spondylosis of the spine and pneumonia and has not yet been vaccinated against COVID-19.

“The PNP mourns to another death caused by the Covid-19 and assures the family of the personnel every assistance and benefits they needed,” Gen. Eleazar said.

The PNP-HS headed by Brigadier Gen. Antonino R. Cirujales on Saturday recorded 198 more recoveries bringing to 36,720 the number of police personnel who have fully recovered from the disease and are now back to full duty status since March last year.

The unit however said it registered 212 new cases increasing to 39,115 the number of PNP personnel who have contracted the virus since March 2020 with 2,279 of them considered as ‘active cases.’

Gen. Eleazar said that at present, there are already 158,301 or 71.09 percent of the 210,000-strong police force who are already fully vaccinated while 56,017 or 25.15 percent have already received their 1st dose of vaccine.

With this, there are only 8,374 policemen who are yet to be vaccinated for various reasons as of press time. They represent 3.76 percent of the entire PNP strength.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Alfred P. Dalizon