‘Wag na magpanggap na excellent: DOH urged to admit, fix failures in COVID-19 response

By Billy Begas

House Deputy Minority Leader and Marikina Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo said the Department of Health (DOH) needs an honest assessment of the current situation in the country.

“The DOH must accept at this point that the wheel is broken, and it needs major fixing,” Quimbo said. “They need to accept the fact that the numbers are rising and the numbers that we are seeing are not even reflective of reality because they failed to expand testing and tracing to an appropriate scale for disease control.”

She explained that the reported cases are based only on those who tested positive in the RT-PCR tests “Hence, for as long as testing is not accessible to all and if alternative ways of detecting COVID are not included in the reporting protocol, DOH will not get the COVID numbers right.”

“At ang tamang datos at impormasyon ay kinakailangan para makapaglatag ng mas epektibong polisiya ang mga kinauukulan. RT-PCR tests continue to be expensive at 4K-10k per test, and PhilHealth coverage continues to be ineffective,” she added.

Quimbo pointed out that extending the ECQ will be “useless unless DOH revises its approach to COVID control” since the “current policies are clearly not working.”

She also pushed for a more localized lockdown “implemented at the smallest possible unit – the household” to ensure that the “needed health care and economic assistance including ayuda are sufficiently provided for and at the same time economic activity outside the affected households can continue.”

Quimbo explained that household lockdown will be successful if the household members are assured that all basic necessities and especially health care will be provided.

She said Barangay Health Workers will be instrumental in implementing household lockdown.

“Keeping lockdown at the household level will allow LGUs to not only target their meager resources effectively but more importantly, it will allow LGUs to properly track and record the correct number of COVID cases in their areas,” she added.

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)