KORONADAL CITY –– At least 41 police personnel with medical backgrounds have been put on standby to augment health workers if the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic becomes prevalent in the Soccsksargen region, a top official said Wednesday.
Brig. General Alfred Corpus, Police Regional Office-12 director, said they organized a Medical Reserved Force (MRF) from among their ranks and had given them a crash course on COVID-19 to prepare for a possible surge of cases in the region.
The members of the reserve force are graduates of medical-related courses and are policemen and women assigned at the different provinces under PRO-12, the official said in a statement.
“In case this pandemic comes to worst (in our region), PRO-12 is ready to deploy its personnel (with medical backgrounds),” said Corpus.
He said police officers had been trained not just to protect but also to save lives.
MRF members attended a seminar on Tuesday, April 7, where they were briefed about the protocols and precautionary measures against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), stress management during community and home quarantine, and the proper use of personal protective equipment, among others.
Soccsksargen is composed of the provinces of South Cotabato, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and Sarangani.
As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 7, the region has 13 confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to a Department of Health-12 report.
Three were new cases––a 59-year-old man from General Santos City, with a travel history to Davao City; a 49-year-old woman from Cotabato City with a travel history to Davao City; and a 29-year-old woman from Cotabato province who traveled to Abu Dhabi, Singapore, and Davao City.
Of the 209 patients under investigation in the region as of 5 p.m. Tuesday, 23 remained in hospitals, 53 were discharged, 85 were under home quarantine, 38 have completed their home quarantine, and 10 have died, DOH-12 data showed.
Of the 13 confirmed COVID-19 cases, only one died in Sultan Kudarat. The rest were either admitted to an isolation facility or under strict home quarantine, the DOH report said.
At least 145 persons under monitoring were on home quarantine across the region as of Tuesday afternoon, the DOH-12 said.