Quezon City Rep. Precious Castelo is proposing the crafting of a “national response and preparedness strategy” to address pandemics and disease outbreaks such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Her proposal is contained in House Bill 6650 or the “Pandemic Preparedness Act of 2020” that she had filed on Monday.
“A wait and see strategy will never be enough when human lives are at risk.”
“This bill aims to strengthen national response and preparedness in the event of public health emergencies such as the occurrence of pandemics and outbreaks. Proactive instead of reactive measures must be put in place when public health is at stake. It is essential to prepare now to prevent a repeat of this COVID-19 disaster in the future,” she said.
“A wait and see strategy will never be enough when human lives are at risk. Whenever there is an imminent threat to society, it is necessary that the threat is dealt with appropriately at the outset,” she said.
Castelo said the world was not ready with the COVID-19 outbreak despite having killed other coronaviruses in the past.
“What sets the novel coronavirus apart is its high possibility of transmission due to its longer incubation period. Persons with minimal or no symptoms may be able to transmit it, making it difficult to contain,” she added.
She pointed out that because of the COVID-19 outbreak: “Filipinos are facing the defining crisis of their time with no end in sight.”
“Along with the fear of being infected is the uncertainty of whether there is some sort of normalcy that can be established to endure this public health emergency,” she said.
In her. bill, Castelo also proposed that the Department of Health (DOH) secretary take the lead in preparing a national strategy against pandemics and outbreaks.
The health secretary can enlist the assistance of other government agencies, professional organizations and other private groups.
He would include in his department’s annual proposal funds needed for crafting and implementing such a strategy.
Castelo suggested that the response and preparedness roadmap includes the following:
– Improvement of public health emergency response through bilateral and multilateral cooperation with countries with more advanced health care systems.
– Promotion of improved emergency medical services, research, data collection, treatment protocols, and policies with regard to public health emergencies.
– Provision of additional medical and health resources such as specialized hospitals and facilities that particularly deal with the treatment of infection and communicable diseases.
– Systematic approaches for expedient mobilization of healthcare and security personnel and resources whenever there is a need to contain and communicable disease outbreak, epidemic, or pandemic.
– Establishment of guidelines and principles that shall cover the imposition of isolation and quarantine measures whenever necessary.
– Periodic evaluation and assessment of national and local preparedness and response capabilities to the occurrence of public health emergencies.