Staff in Marinduque hospital use disposable ponchos while waiting for PPEs

Medical staff in a hospital in Marinduque are making do with disposable ponchos as they wait for the arrival of personal protective equipment (PPE).

In a post on Marinduque Governor Presby Velasco's Facebook page, representatives of the Torrijos Municipal Hospital could be seen receiving and wearing the donated ponchos.

"These ponchos are donated by the private sector to the Provincial Administrator Office and are being used while we await for the official PPEs," the post said.

Ponchos and gears were also given to Marinduque frontliners including members of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Provincial Health Office (PHO), Marinduque Provincial Hospital (MPH) and Marinduque Animal & Wildlife Rescue.

The Department of Health (DOH) announced on Wednesday that the first batch of the one million personal protective equipment (PPE) sets it procured has been distributed to COVID-19 referral hospitals in Luzon.

The first batch was distributed to the East Avenue Medical Center, San Lazaro Hospital, Lung Center of the Philippines, Philippine General Hospital, Dr. Jose Rodriguez Memorial Hospital, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines Medical Center.

The remaining 985,000 sets are expected to arrive between April 6 and 24.

Luzon is currently under enhanced community quarantine in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which has already infected 2,311 and killed 96 persons.

—JCB, GMA News