Stringent health protocols in place for ‘Hatid Tulong’ personnel

FILE: Some locally stranded individuals (LSIs) undergo rapid tests for coronavirus disease at the “Hatid Tulong” Program at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum on Saturday (July 25, 2020). (PNA photo by Joey O. Razon)

MANILA – Health protocols are in place for the Hatid Tulong’s technical working group (TWG) as they continue to facilitate and assist locally stranded individuals (LSIs), Presidential Management Staff (PMS) Assistant Secretary Joseph Encabo, lead convenor of the program, said Saturday.

“Every time with our engagement, we subject ourselves with medical checkup, we conduct testing for Covid-19 and we are also subjecting ourselves with quarantine protocols,” he said in an interview.

He said none of the TWG personnel contracted Covid-19 despite some LSIs reportedly testing positive for the virus.

Ensuring the TWG’s health and safety while serving LSIs, Encabo said, is part of the government’s protocols to also protect program beneficiaries against the risks of infection.

“Sana magpatuloy yung ganung klaseng kondisyon namin na habang kami po ay nagseserbisyo ay wala pong magkakasakit sa amin (I hope we can continue with that kind of condition that while we are serving, no one will get sick from us),” he said.

Under the program, Encabo said the LSIs should secure a medical clearance, travel authority and must undergo a rapid test for Covid-19 before being allowed to depart going to their provinces.

Meanwhile, Labor Undersecretary Benjo Benavidez said LSIs who test positive during the rapid testing will be isolated immediately in a holding area and will undergo confirmatory swab testing.

Benavidez, also a member of the program secretariat, said the LSIs will be quarantined in an isolation health facility near the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) while waiting for the swab test result.

“In this process, we are conducting rapid testing for the LSIs. If they test positive, we isolate them. To my recollection those who tested positive [during the rapid testing] is less than 10, from those who have been assisted on Saturday,” he said.

He said LSIs bound for Mindanao have been transported on Saturday (July 25), while others heading to provinces in Luzon and the Visayas will depart on Sunday.

On the other hand, Benavidez said the government has reserved a housing facility for LSIs who will not be able to return home due to existing moratorium in their respective provinces.

“Dun po muna sila namin dadalhin hanggang matapos po yung moratorium sa kanilang mga lugar (We will house them first while we wait for the lifting of the moratorium in their respective places),” he said.

Benavidez said the process on the second wave of the Hatid Tulong program was faster than the first send-off.

“Those challenges that we have encountered before, the gaps that we have identified before. We have already addressed it,” he said. “But this is no perfect process.”

Benavidez lauded the strong collaboration among the national government agencies and local government units when it comes to the implementation of the Hatid Tulong program.