82 Itbayat patients evacuated to Batanes hospital

TUGUEGARAO CITY – The number of dengue patients moved from Itbayat island to the Batanes Provincial Hospital at Basco town in Batanes province has increased to 82 as of Wednesday (July 11).

The Coast Guard reported airlifting 59 adults and 23 children in six mission flights, many of them elderly, as well as patients in critical condition, according to Lt. Erick Gacasa, head pilot of the PCG Islander.

Mission flights will resume as soon as the weather clears.

Itbayat doctors recorded the first three dengue cases in February but the number rose from May 29 to the first week of June this year, officials have reported.

Two doctors were sent to Itbayat to help prevent an outbreak. Health officials are validating reports that Sabtang Island also has dengue cases, according to Gov. Marilou Cayco.

Rural health units, barangay leaders and the police have initiated massive fogging operations in Itbayat, Sabtang and Basco against dengue-carrying mosquitos.