DOH, BJMP, ICRC officers inspect Quezon City Jail health facilities (Sabong News)
Author
Aaron Homer Dioquino
Date
APRIL 21 2022
Officers of the Department of Health (DOH), the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) checked the current health situation in the Quezon City Jail Male Dormitory (QCJMD) on Wednesday, April 20.
The team led by Dr. Beverly Lorraine Ho, Director IV of the DOH Disease and Prevention Control Bureau and Health Preventions Bureau; Jail Senior Supt. Ilna Rita Maderazo, BJMP Directorate for Health Service officer-in-charge; and ICRC representative Mr. Teddy Dizon were accompanied by medical practitioners of the BJMP.
According to the QCJMD, the inspection aims to assess the jail’s current health situation ahead of the proposed Joint Administrative Order (JAO) that will institutionalize the universal healthcare reforms for detention facilities in the Philippines.
It added that the JAO intends to integrate multi-sectoral strategies to support the delivery of health care services in jails and prisons.
Jail Senior Supt. Michelle Bonto, QCJMD warden, gave the delegation a tour in the jail’s health facilities, including its Tubercolisis (TB) Detection Hub.
The QCJMD said that the TB Detection Hub is a laboratory equipped with Genexperts machine capable of detecting bacteriologically confirmed sputum specimen. It allows them to screen newly committed Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDLs) if they are afflicted with pulmonary tuberculosis upon commitment in the facility.
The sputum examination for a PDL is free of charge, and the laboratory also accepts specimen from other jails in Metro Manila, according to the QCJMD.
The QCJMD is the first jail in National Capital Region with a dedicated pulmonary TB isolation facility, which operates in partnership with the QC local government, the DOH and ICRC.
It said that PDLs, once confirmed with pulmonary TB through X-ray and sputum tests, are given treatment with complete sets of medicines and vitamins from the local government and the BJMP.
Released PDLs who got infected with the disease after returning to the community were also given take-home medicines and referred to their barangays for continuation of their treatment.
