Some 20 private institutions to assist government’s vax program in Cebu

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY – Some 20 private sector institutions composed of  hospitals, malls and hotels are expected to assist the government in its national rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination program here in Central Visayas after they signed the memorandum of agreement (MOA) on March 29 with the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV), the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF)-Visayas and the Department of Health (DOH-7) under the Project Balik Buhay (PBB).

The PBB is a Cebu-based inter-sectoral group initiated by OPAV last year to help in the campaign against COVID-19 and the goal of the agreement is to enable the safe and successful implementation of the National Vaccination Program for the local economy to recover fast from the pandemic, OPAV secretary Michael Lloyd Dino explained during the signing ceremony, Monday at the Visayas COVID-19 Vaccination Operations Center at Oakridge Business Park in Mandaue City.

“The government has forged this partnership with the private sector to help the latter in the vaccination process, especially that some companies are procuring their own vaccines for their workers.  We need the cooperation of the private sector to fast track our vaccination. Time is of the essence in order to defeat COVID, we need to be fast,” he added.

Dino is confident that Visayas has slowly developed the know-how in implementing the vaccination program despite the challenges the government experienced in rolling out the vaccination program.

The MOA signing paves the way for the establishment of private sector-led vaccination centers to help facilitate the rollout of the National Vaccination Program, focusing mainly in helping vaccinate the employed sector to help revive the local economy as fast as possible, Dino stated.

These vaccination centers are to be accredited by DOH but funded and managed by the private sector to help augment the capacity of the government-led vaccination centers.

 The MOA signing was attended by OPAV secretary Dino, IATF Visayas Chief Implementor Lt. Gen. Melquiades Feliciano, DOH-7 regional director Jaime Bernadas, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, PBB chairman and businessman Edmun Liu, Regional Development Council-7 chair Kenneth Cobonpue, PBB co-chair and DOH-7 spokesperson Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, and infectious disease specialist Dr. Albert Lim.

Signatories of the MOA included Chong Hua Hospital, CebuDoc Group, Visayas Community Medical Center, Mendero Medical Center, UCMed, ARC Hospitals, Belmont One, SM Group, Robinsons Land Corp., Toyota Team Cebu, Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Visayan Electric, Archdiocese of Cebu, Sacred Heart School and University of San Carlos.

The other vaccination medical partners include Cebu Velez General Hospital, Perpetual Succour Hospital, St. Vincent General Hospital, UP Medical Alumni Society, LH Foundation Inc. and Bayanihan Cebu. (Photos: OPAV)