It’s easy to say it’s impossible. The recycled court jester, he with the vertigo-inducing TikTok dance, says so. No country has done it, he says perhaps with relief.
Sure, the Philippines, with a population of about 107 million, is not exactly the perfect laboratory for studying the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 pandemic. Our borders are porous, a fourth of the population lives in labyrinthine and impossibly congested slum areas, we don’t have enough funding and, more importantly, we have a government that is as confused as we are on how to respond to the virus.
But Harry Roque is wrong. Mass testing can be done. Okay, it’s impossible to cover the entire population, but the government should at least exert real effort to test masses of people.
Besides, when we asked for mass testing, we never meant testing all of the 107 million Filipinos, just like with mass wedding and mass murder.
But definitely we want to test way more than 0.2 percent of our population. As of the latest data available on the health department’s website, only 207,823 unique individuals have been tested for COVID-19.
Let’s not brag about expanded testing, too, because that is easy to say. With the government’s prevailing response, any additional effort is already an “expanded” move, but that simply isn’t enough.
So tell me, why can’t we do mass testing? Let’s start with the hotspots – Metro Manila, population: 12 million.
Why can’t we do it?
Is the Duterte administration afraid to see the real numbers? My take – this is one possible and very real answer. A government trying to survive politically – with plans of winning the 2022 elections – will try to avoid letting the cat out of the bag.
Is our health system simply too weak to do it?
Harry Roque says it’s impossible for a country like the Philippines to do it. We simply don’t have the capacity and the capability.
My take – we are facing a very serious pandemic. We’ve seen in other countries that mass testing is the way to go. If the government really focused on this, it can be done.
Is it logistically impossible?
My take – it’s not. Let’s start with Metro Manila. The national government can ask the local government units to identify hot spots, have a concerted effort to do mass testing in these barangays, and then isolate those who will test positive in makeshift quarantine facilities.
Is it expensive?
Let’s do the math. The rapid test costs P1,590 per patient, according to a private hospital in Quezon City. Results would be released the next day. The amount will be cheaper if the state will acquire the tests in volumes. The real cost can go down to below P450 per patient, according to a company that acquired rapid test kits. The widely used test can have false positive results, but presidential adviser for entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion, who is spearheading the efforts of the private sector on testing through Project Ark, said repeated rapid tests could still be cheaper.
The PCR tests, on the other hand, are more accurate, but also more expensive. But it can be done. In the same private hospital, a PCR test can cost P6,000. Results will come out in two to three days. But this is not necessarily the price. A tycoon who has donated PCR tests to LGUs said the cost of these tests can eventually go down to P2,000 per test from around P4,000 to P6,000 at present. It can even go down to P1,500 per test.
The processing of the tests would require an automated RNA extraction system, which would enable faster turnaround. There is a cost to this, but it can be done.
If we test the whole of Metro Manila, its population of 12 million, that would cost at least P18 billion at P1,500 per PCR test. It would cost another P18 billion if you repeat the test and if you combine it with a rapid test, that would cost at least P12 billion. That’s only less than P50 billion.
Does the government have the money for this?
Yes, and it can even ask the help of the private sector as it has been doing. Unless, of course, some unscrupulous individuals are simply EYES WIDE OPEN... From B3
pocketing government funds or some parties just want to save hard-earned taxpayers money to bail out bankrupt companies of their so-called friends. They called these behest loans during the Marcos era.
Challenges
There will be challenges – a shortage in global supply of tests kits and chemicals as well as of laboratory technicians and facilities but these are not impossible problems. If the private sector is able to acquire, so can the government. If only the government had a concrete plan early on with focus on mass testing, contact tracing and isolation, we would be in a better situation.
Mass testing should have been done during the lockdown. The government should have acquired the test kits sooner.
Didn’t the World Health Organization emphasize the importance of testing early on?
Racing against time
Now we are racing against time with a slow moving plan and a virus that is spreading at an alarming speed.
How can we break the chain of transmission if we don’t even know who is transmitting the killer virus?
Iris Gonzales’ email address is eyesgonzales@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at eyesgonzales.com