An official of the Department of Health (DOH) has warned health personnel against the indiscriminate use of NS1 or the dengue test kit to avoid wastage.
“I hope there will be an orientation among health centers on the indiscriminate use of NS1 kasi hindi naman pagkalagnat mo kukunan ka na kaagad,” said Dr. Abdullah Dumama Jr., DOH assistant secretary for Visayas and Mindanao.
Dumama also advised personnel to only use the NS1 once there’s a recommendation from a doctor since there are already reports that the testing kits are being used to all kinds of patients.
In Davao Region, DOH supplies at least 10,000 dengue testing kits weekly according to the Davao Regional Dengue Control and Prevention Program Manager engineer Antonietta Ebol. She said there is no shortage of supply as she explains that even they ran out of NS1 this week, there will be another set that’s coming in the succeeding week.
Moreover, with the recent declaration of national dengue epidemic, Dumama has encouraged the Local Government Units (LGUs) to access their calamity funds and use it to address dengue. This fund can also be utilized to purchase their own NS1. “The QRF of DOH is different from the QRF of LGUs. This can be an avenue for the LGUs to access their fund and use it,” he added.
Meanwhile, as of August 5, dengue cases in the region have already increased to 4,345, a 61.5% higher than of the same period last year. From this, they already recorded 21 deaths.
