Cagayan de Oro’s health chief quits after being called out online by mayor

Cagayan de Oro’s health chief stepped down a week after Mayor Oscar Moreno vented on her over the health department’s failure to provide more COVID-19 vaccine doses for the city that has seen increases in daily infections since May.

Dr. Lorraine Nery submitted her letter to Moreno on Friday, June 18, relinquishing her position as acting city health officer.

Moreno said Nery would continue serving in the City Health Office as a medical officer IV, a position she held even while serving as acting chief of the local health office since 2019.

Moreno directed Dr. William Bernardo, chief of the City Health Insurance Department and head for logistics of the local COVID-19 inter-agency task force, to replace Nery in an acting capacity.

Nery’s decision also meant relinquishing her post as vice-chairperson of the local COVID-19 Emergency Operations Committee.

“[The decision] was mutually agreed upon, and I thank her (Nery) for that,” Moreno told an online news conference on Saturday, June 19. “It was an inescapable decision in that the City Health Department needs streamlining especially in these most difficult and challenging times.”

Seven days earlier, Nery found herself in an awkward situation during an online news briefing when Moreno questioned her about Cagayan de Oro’s vaccine allocation – which was merely over 3,000 doses – from the Department of Health (DOH).

Moreno was displeased with the DOH’s plan to give Cagayan de Oro only 10% of the vaccine supply for Northern Mindanao, and he told Nery that it was her job to negotiate and secure more doses for the city.

“Cagayan de Oro’s population is only 10% of Region 10? We are the regional center, and our cases here are more than what other areas have,” he said.

Nery interjected and answered back at times, citing information she received from the DOH regional office as a visibly irked Moreno asserted that Cagayan de Oro should have a vaccine allocation separate from what was intended for the region.

“Do not defend the DOH,” Moreno told Nery. “Please tell them that we are the most efficient in the region in our vaccination. Please tell DOH that I only want to protect the residents of the city.”

City hall sources, however, said Moreno was also disappointed with Nery because many people who tested positive for COVID-19 were not immediately admitted to the city’s isolation units, including hotels that were turned into temporary facilities for patients with mild COVID-19 symptoms.

“We have enough rooms for these cases. It is just a matter of coordinating its operations,” Moreno told a press briefing on Saturday.

The DOH sent the city some 35,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Tuesday, June 15, a day after Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Representative Rufus Rodriguez sharply criticized the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).

Rodriguez accused IATF officials of “criminal neglect” of Cagayan de Oro and Mindanao in the distribution of vaccines during a meeting of the House committee on Mindanao affairs. – Rappler.com