Red Cross official says less than “100-200 people” to be rescued in Marawi

July 31, 2017

An official of the International Committee of the Red Cross Delegation to the Philippines, told foreign correspondents in a forum Monday there are less than “100 to 200 people” to be rescued as fighting in Marawi City reaches its 70 th day. Jose Amigo, International Committee of the Red Cross Delegation to the Philippines, told the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines there are "less to be rescued now". . The ICRC has contact with the Maute group but Amigo said he is not aware of the conditions of the armed group to the organization. Amigo said the situation in the evacuation centers of Iligan, Saguiaran and Baloi are "under control". "It's something that we feel our assistance is not needed because it is well handled", it said. But evacuation centers east of Lanao Lake “are very dangerous because the homeland of the Maute is in south of Butig, he said.” “This area has been unsafe before conflict in Marawi,” said Amingo. “The corner of Marawi that is being held still by the ISIS ( Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) and the Maute is in the southeast,” said Amigo. Amigo said this area “has not seen nearly any assistance in the last two weeks, one week” Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial said there is "crowding" in the evacuation centers and houses of relatives where the home-based evacuees are staying as the battle between the government and the Maute-ISIS group reached its 70th day. Ubial said there are 465,753 individuals affected in the Marawi crisis and there are 87 evacuation centers holding the internally displaced families. She said the Marawi risis is "one of the biggest displacement in Philippine history not caused by natural disaster". There are 42 reported deaths related to health problems from the home-based evacuees, Ubial said. She said acute respiratory infection is the top cause of the morbidity of the evacuees followed by pneumonia, hypertension and urinary tract infection. Ubial said there are cases of measles, cholera and chicken pox in the evacuation centers. She assured the health department is having an active surveillance for all communicable diseases ."No need for alarm... We have no outbreak", she said. Ubial said there are enough supply and personnel to cater the health problems in Marawi City, she said. "Our problem is clearing Marawi so that our supplies can actually be delivered on the ground .A lot of our movement and assistance is actually hampered  because of the security concerns", Ubial said. The DOH has included a P2.7 billion infrastructure fund for reconstruction in Marawi City  in its budget for 2018 needed, Ubial said. "We are laying out planned rehabilitation for Marawi that is close to the ideal of the Cuban model of health system", she said. She said the DOH plans to put one barangay health station in the 16 barangays and health personnel in each of the 96 barangays in Marawi City. There will be one rural health unit for 20,000 population, she said. "We will need 10 or 12 and then we have one lying in or polyclinic for every 50,000 this facility we don't have in the country that is the strength of the Cuban health system", Ubial said. She said the DOH will build additional four polyclinic and one bed for every 800 population in the hospitals. "So, we'll be upgrading the medical center, the Amai Pakpak medical center for 500 beds", she said. Ubial said the Philippine government will initially support the project and turn it over to the local government unit. "Of course, we're looking at Philhealth reimbursement to  actually make the health system funding", she said. Ubial said they have provided psychological first aid to 35,000 internally displaced persons and P95 million pesos medical assistance. The National Center for mental health personnel will be deployed on Tuesday to help improve the mental health of the evacuees, she said. She said the hospitals near Marawi are congested and the remaining hospital that receives referral is the Tamparan hospital in Lanao del Sur. (Alanna Ambi/DMS)