The local government has encouraged the public to avail of the free dengue rapid tests kit to reduce the fatalities of the dengue in the city as it can detect dengue cases as fast as 15 minutes.
“The City Health Office (CHO) is given free services to provide for early detection,” said Melodina Babante, a pest control worker of CHO. “Through the dengue rapid tests, we can confirm within 15 minutes if they really have dengue.”
Babante said the kit is availed in the designated centers.
“Anyone, especially those with fever ranging two to five days, may avail of this. They just have to proceed to our 17 main rural health units and city health laboratory and the city health tropical disease divisions,” she said.
Babante said it is best for Davaoenos to avail of this to avoid dengue-caused deaths. In the recent report of the CHO, there were five deaths and 937 confirmed cases of dengue in the city for the first semester of 2019.
“This is really a great help in the rapid detection of dengue so that it will be referred early to the hospital, and in turn, the number of fatalities due to dengue will be lessened,” she said.
The health worker said the kit cost P2,000 in private hospitals.
Mayor Sara Duterte and the Department of Health XI support the project.
The dengue rapid tests kit is consonant to the 4S strategy against dengue: Search and destroy potential breeding grounds, Seek early medication and consultation, Self-protection measures, and Support indoor and outdoor spraying and fogging.
The rapid test kits fall under seek early medication and consultation.
“As of now, we have sufficient stocks but because of the number of persons with fever for two days up, we are expecting more people to avail of it. We are encouraging everyone to avail of this service because this is for free,” she said.
