Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte has upbraided Department of Health (DOH) officials for what he described as their “almost criminal negligence’ in virtually deserting the country’s health workers at the frontlines of the war against Covid-19 by failing to fully equip them with personal protective equipment (PPEs) that are essential in their daily battle to save patients and their lives as well from the deadly coronavirus.
The failure of DOH executives to use the P3 billion allotted in Republic Act (RA) 11494 or the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan 2) for the acquisition of PPEs “smacks of criminal neglect,” said Villafuerte, as these health officials’ continuing inaction has put our medical frontliners at serious risk of infection, great harm and even death on a daily basis in the absence or shortage of such indispensable protection against the highly infectious pathogen.
“This seeming I-couldn’t-care-less mindset of our officials at the DOH is totally disgusting and betrays their apparent apathy towards our doctors, nurses and other hospital frontliners who risk their lives on a daily basis trying to save Filipinos from dying from Covid-19 that has already sickened almost 900,000 people in our country and killed over 15,400 of them.”
Lawmakers saw it fit last year to include this P3-billion budget for the PPEs of healthcare workers in the Bayanihan 2 measure, he said, in anticipation of any possible scarcity in the supply of these all-important protective getups, such as what is happening now in the midst of what experts have called the “second wave’ of infections since the pandemic broke out in January last year.
“What makes this almost criminal negligence doubly infuriating is that P3 billion has been set aside in last year’s Bayanihan 2 for the purchase of PPEs for our medical frontliners, and yet DOH officials have chosen to take their own sweet time in buying such protective equipment that are so essential in our healthcare workers’ daily battle to save infected people and their lives as well,” Villafuerte said.
He pointed out that the government needs to provide our healthcare workers with a constant and adequate supply of PPEs for their own protection, especially at this time of a surge in Covid-19 infections, which has been traced in part to the advent of new, more transmissible variants of the virus.
“Does this inaction manifest plain lethargy on the part of our DOH officials to purchase PPEs for our hospital frontliners or does it unmask a more serious flaw, which is their collective cavalier attitude toward our doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers who are at the frontline of the global war against this lingering pandemic?” he stressed.
For Villafuerte, “This seeming I-couldn’t-care-less mindset of our officials at the DOH is totally disgusting and betrays their apparent apathy towards our doctors, nurses and other hospital frontliners who risk their lives on a daily basis trying to save Filipinos from dying from Covid-19 that has already sickened almost 900,000 people in our country and killed over 15,400 of them,” Villafuerte said.
The principal author in the House of both Bayanihan 2 and RA 11469 (Bayanihan to Heal as One Act or Bayanihan 1), Villafuerte explained that Bayanihan 2 had allocated P3 billion for the purchase of PPEs, including medical gowns, N95 respirators, surgical masks, gloves and shoe covers for the use of our healthcare workers.
Villafuerte said he was at a loss as to why DOH officials’ seem “bereft of any sense of urgency because the acquisition of PPEs was supposed to have been done in the latter part of 2020 yet, given that Bayanihan 2 was originally supposed to expire last December when the bicameral Congress took its annual yearend recess.”
Cristy Donguines, president of the Dr. Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center (JRMMC)’s Employees Union, and Benjamin Santos, a staff member at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), have been quoted in media reports as complaining about the supposed lack of PPEs.
“These offices owe it to the public and to legislators to account for the funds that were set aside last year by the Congress under Bayanihan 2 to beef up the country’s healthcare capacity, especially now when the alarming surge in Covid-19 infections threatens to overwhelm both our medical frontliners and healthcare infrastructure.”
Philippine College of Physicians (PCP) vice president Dr. Maricar Limpin, who works at the Philippine Heart Center (PHC), was separately quoted in another report as expressing concern over the allegedly decreasing number of PPEs and the quality of some protective gear that are available.
“Meron pang available PPE, but of course, para sa amin nakikita namin na ang ibang PPE—siguro sabihin na natin na—hindi kami comfortable in really using kasi baka pati kami magkaroon ng infection,” Limpin was quoted as saying. “Sa iba, I heard, na nauubusan na rin sila sa ibang hospitals. I hope mabigyan ng pansin ang PPE na ito.”
The P3-billion allocation was supposed to have reverted to the National Treasury—and the DOH could no longer use the money to buy PPEs—when the Congress went on its Christmas break last December 18, but lawmakers decided to write a law (RA 11519) extending the validity of Bayanihan 2 funds until June 30, 2021, hence giving the DOH six more months to acquire the protective equipment.
The DOH was “saved by the bell” because the effectivity of Bayanihan 2 was extended for six months, “and yet department officials do not appear to be in a rush to spend its P3-billion budget on PPEs even if the June 30 deadline is barely a couple of months away, said Villafuerte, who had also authored RA 11519 along with RA 11520 that extended the validity of the 2020 national budget until December 31 this year.
“Our health officials seem to be in no mood to buy PPEs even if these equipment are crucial to protecting our healthcare workers from getting infected with the lethal coronavirus,” Villafuerte said. “So, why in the first place did they ask for that amount from the Congress if they do not intend to use it anyway?”
Earlier, Villafuerte called on the DOH, Interagency Task Force on the Management of Infectious Diseases (IATF) and National Task Force Against Covid-19 (NTF) to give updates on the projects supposed to have been funded under Bayanihan 2 to contain the pandemic.
Villafuerte called on these offices to report the status of projects ostensibly funded by the Congress under Bayanihan 2, such as those for the establishment of temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMFs).
“These offices owe it to the public and to legislators to account for the funds that were set aside last year by the Congress under Bayanihan 2 to beef up the country’s healthcare capacity, especially now when the alarming surge in Covid-19 infections threatens to overwhelm both our medical frontliners and healthcare infrastructure,” he said.
“We urge these offices to report to the Congress the status of these funds, which is mandated under RA 11494. With the extension of the validity of the available Bayanihan 2 appropriations under RA 11519, these offices should take the initiative to continue reporting on what have been accomplished thus far with the Covid-related budgetary outlays,” said Villafuerte.
Villafuerte wanted to find out, in particular, the status of the fund releases and implementation of the P4.5-billion appropriations under Bayanihan 2 for the construction and maintenance of isolation facilities, including the billings of hotels, food and transportation used for the Covid-19 response and recovery program by the Office of Civil Defense (OCD).
Under the law’s regular appropriations, Villafuerte said the government should also provide an update on the P13.5 billion allocated for health-related responses, such as the continuous employment and additional human resource for health or HRH, DOH hospitals operations, special risk allowance for public and private healthcare workers or HCW, hazard pay, free life insurance and other benefits, and the P3 billion for the procurement of face masks, shoe covers and other necessary medical supplies.
“We would also like to find out if any funds have been cascaded to the LGUs (local government units) for the construction of TTMFs. In the case of Camarines Sur we were able to set up our own facility by converting a medical school into a TTMF using funds from the provincial government, but none from the national government using the appropriations under Bayanihan 2,” he said.
Villafuerte underscored the need for LGUs to establish additional TTMFs and other medical equipment necessary to curb the spread of Covid-19, given the latest surge in infections reported mostly in the National Capital Region (NCR) and its adjacent provinces belonging to the so-called “NCR Plus” bubble.
He had welcomed the new government target of conducting 90,000 to 100,000 Covid-19 tests per day via the combined use of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and rapid antigen tests, in light of the infection surge since mid-March.
Villafuerte had called on the NTF and IATF to green-light the use of antigen testing nationwide to improve the testing, detection, tracing and treatment capabilities of all LGUs.
The former Camarines Sur governor said the province has managed to contain the spread of the virus by conducting rapid antigen tests since June last year on about 50,000 people entering or returning to Camarines Sur, and immediately sending for treatment to any of its over a dozen quarantine and isolation facilities those found positive for Covid-19.
He stressed the urgency for the government to ramp up its mass testing with the use of both PCR and rapid antigen tests as he pointed to a recent World Bank assessment report that the Philippines’ reliance on long lockdowns in lieu of a test-based strategy at the onset of the pandemic was responsible for its continued economic slowdown at a time when other economies in the region have started to recover.