Tagbilaran City, Bohol – Citing the rise in the number of diving tourists in this province, the Bohol Provincial Government intends to put up a decompression chamber at the newly-opened Bohol Medical Care Institute to attend to divers with decompression problems.

Bohol is one of the country’s best diving spots and its aquatic resources are considered world-class.
Bohol Governor Erico Aumentado said the plan is to put up the needed hyperbaric chamber to address the medical needs of divers considering that accidents do happen as Bohol has become a prime dive site luring both local and foreign scuba divers.

Saddled with the apparent failure of Government to regulate dives with direct supervision from the Philippine Commission on Sports Scuba Diving (PCSSD), Bohol’s resources and guest divers endanger themselves when diving here.

“This decompression chamber is badly needed and with the lack of this and other equipment here, some victims of diving accidents would not be able to reach hospitals and facilities that can help them,” said Aumentado.

The nearest facility injured divers in Bohol can use is at the Central Command in Cebu and dive accident victims need to be airlifted fast to survive and make it to the treatment center.

According to the Governor, Bohol has already been authorized to operate the hyperbaric equipment. Such an apparatus is capable of providing therapy to dive victims whose blood oxygen levels have not stabilized after surfacing above the water fast, posing dangers to their body’s oxygen levels against the atmospheric pressure.

At present, even as Bohol is considered a world-class dive destination, divers who come to the province to dive in its waters have to sign a waiver to exempt dive operators from any liability or responsibility in case a client gets into an accident while scuba diving, the Governor added.