At least 14 health facilities in Mindanao were totally damaged by the series of earthquakes, the Department of Health (DOH) reported.
The DOH, in a statement, also revealed that 137 out of 150 health facilities were partially damaged.
Davao (Region XI) sustained the highest number of damaged heath facilities – 98 partially damaged and eight totally damaged. The earthquakes severely damaged Davao City, Digos City, and Davao del Sur.
Region XII, or SOCCSKSARGEN, came in second with 36 partially damaged facilities and six totally damaged facilities. The epicenters of the earthquake swarm were in Cotabato, which is in this region.
In Northern Mindanao (Region X), six health facilities were partially damaged.
DOH Sec. Francisco Duque III said their technical and engineering staff continues to assess quake-affected health facilities so they can immediately be fixed or relocated if needed.
“It’s very important that we need to normalize operations as soon as possible,” Duque said.
He said that DOH is preparing the budgetary requirement to repair the damaged facilities.
“We need to find the resources needed to put these facilities back on track,” he added.
He said the DOH is also identifying relocation sites for facilities near the fault lines identified by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB).
A total of P5.1 million worth of commodities were provided by the DOH Central Office for the DOH Regions X, XI, XII, and XIII as augmentation response to the needs of the affected areas.
Thirty-seven rapid health assessment, medical, mental health and psychosocial, water sanitation and hygiene, nutrition, and technical staff composed of engineers and operation center staff were mobilized from different Center for Development (CHD) to provide health and technical services to the affected areas.
