DOH to AFP: Shut up on Ebola issue

MANILA—The Department of Health (DOH) has ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to shut up on the issue of Ebola and the quarantine of Filipino former United Nations peacekeepers who returned recently from Liberia.

Lieutenant Colonel Harold Cabunoc, AFP spokesperson, said the gag order was relayed to him on Wednesday by AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Gregorio Catapang following a meeting with DOH officials monitoring the quarantine of 133 soldiers on Caballo Island and at the AFP Medical Center.

“I received an instruction from the chief of staff saying that only the DOH has the authority to discuss… the quarantine status of peacekeepers,” Cabunoc told a press briefing in Camp Aguinaldo. “Once they undergo quarantine, the discussion on their conditions, health issues, and medical bulletins should be made by the DOH only.”

Military and health officials visit Caballo island on Nov. 16, where peacekeepers from Liberia are kept for a quarantine.  PHOTO FROM AFP

But Cabunoc said the AFP could still talk about the administrative aspects of the quarantine, such as the sports activities being held and other things the former peacekeepers do to fight boredom.

The 21-day quarantine of the 108 Air Force soldiers, 24 policemen and a jail officer on Caballo Island will end on December 3.

Cabunoc said the AFP was preparing a heroes’ welcome, complete with military honors at the AFP headquarters, for the peacekeepers. Their families and relatives will be invited to the event.

In the case of the four former peacekeepers being quarantined at the AFP Medical Center, Cabunoc said, they were restricted to the infectious ward section, a structure separate from the hospital. They returned to the country much later than the others.

Asked why they were not brought to Caballo, Cabunoc said the DOH protocol on the handling of returning Filipinos from Ebola-stricken countries allows hospital quarantine.

Cabunoc said the four were previously declared “no risk” personnel and cleared to travel after passing the Ebola screening in Liberia.

He said only the DOH could give details on their quarantine procedures and duration.

The new arrivals, who were left behind in Monrovia to attend to the equipment of their colleagues, were also part of the 18th Philippine Contingent to Liberia.

Cabunoc said that an Air Force peacekeeper who was evacuated a week ago to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) for treatment of malaria rejoined the group on Caballo Island on Friday after recovering from the disease.

Also on Tuesday night, another peacekeeper from Caballo Island was taken to the AFPMC after complaining of chest pains.

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