General Santos deaths not related to haze, DOH says

The recent deaths of two men who succumbed to asthma attacks in General Santos City weren't related to the haze from Indonesia that reached the Philippines, the Department of Health said on Wednesday.

In a news briefing, Health Secretary Janette Garin said there was a big possibilty that the deaths of the two patients were "not directly related to the haze."

"We looked at their records. The time and day when they had (asthma) attacks did not take place when the particulate matters of 2.5 and other particulates of solid matters given by the Environmental Management Bureau (coming from haze was high). So it did not match," Garin said.

"It so happened that they were in the hospital in critical condition when the haze came out but it was still on low level," she added.

One of the victims is a 49-year-old male electrician from General Santos City who had asthma and hypertension. The other one is a 52-year-old male from Ozamis City who happened to be in General Santos City when he suffered the asthma attacks.

Garin said the DOH was is closely monitoring the situation in areas affected by the haze. —NB, GMA News