City of San Fernando — The Department of Health (DOH) through the Provincial Health Office (PHO) distributed dengue NS1 Antigen Rigid Diagnostic Test (RDT) to Rural Health Units (RHU) in every barangay in the province.
Jolly G. Garcia, provincial dengue and malaria coordinator, said NS1 RDT is a test to find out early stages of dengue, such as headache, nausea, vomiting, rashes and fever. The method has been adopted for use in some 40 nations.
“The method is quick and cost-effective in detecting early signs of the dreaded disease because it would only take 15 minutes to get the results after the extracted blood has been processed,” Garcia explained.
“NS1 is also very advantageous as it prevents the patient from critical situations and being hospitalized,” he added.
He said patients who do not have money to spend for their consultation to detect the first phase of dengue can now avail of the test in their respective RHUs for free.
Garcia further advised dengue patients to immediately report to their RHU for proper screening using the RDT if experiencing fever not more than five days.
He also disclosed that Governor Lilia G. Pineda has issued a directive to cure dengue patients free of charge if confined in any of the 10 district hospitals in Pampanga.