BACOLOD City Councilor Renecito Novero will pass a resolution on Wednesday, October 13, to authorize the local government to procure medical grade oxygen supplies for the hospitals in the city.
Novero, majority floor leader, said Monday, October 11, that he was informed by Em Ang, executive director of Emergency Operations Center-Task Force (EOC-TF), of the possible crisis of medical oxygen supplies in the city.
"It's an urgent matter so we need to act on it because it involves life," he said.
He added the City Government can purchase medical oxygen from various suppliers like those in Cebu.
Bacolod hospitals earlier sought the assistance of the EOC-TF to resolve the problems on oxygen supply shortage.
On October 9, Mayor Evelio Leonardia held a meeting with local oxygen producer and distributor, Lucio Chua, to address the shortage of oxygen supply for treatment of Covid-19 patients.
EOC-TF records showed that in terms of medical grade oxygen demand in Bacolod-based hospitals that accommodate patients coming from the city and other local government units (LGUs) in Negros Occidental, the average daily consumption is at 863 of 50-kilogram cylinders.
The maximum recorded consumption of hospitals reached up to 1,247, it added.
Novero said he will also follow up the strict monitoring of the sale, purchase and disposal of medical oxygen gases at certain retail and wholesale stores in the city.
He said there are reports that some hospitals in Bacolod City had, at certain times, suffered from the lack of medical oxygen gas supplies for their patients.
As of October 10, Bacolod City has a total of 21, 345 cases of Covid-19.
Of the number, 18, 714 patients already recovered, 2, 109 active cases with 519 deaths.
