Lack of test kits, equipment hamper fight vs COVID-19

MANILA, Philippines — It’s not the lack of funds but the lack of global supply of testing kits and personal protection equipment (PPE) that poses the biggest challenge to government efforts to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), according to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.

“We have the funds. That has not been our problem. The problem was the global shortage in supplies of testing kits as well as personal protective equipment,” Duque said at a hearing of the House committee on health on Tuesday.

The House of Representatives began its seven-week recess yesterday without passing the proposed P1.65-billion supplemental budget for measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 and address the needs of those infected.

The House appropriations committee approved the measure last Tuesday, but it was not immediately brought to the plenary for deliberation and approval due to lack of Palace certification.

A certification from Malacañang would have allowed Congress to immediately approve the proposed additional funds for the Department of Health (DOH), specifically for procurement of necessary equipment like testing kits and surgical masks.

But Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano stressed that the House is ready to hold a special session during the break so it could pass the proposed supplemental budget.

“The House is on standby anytime the President calls for a special session, we’ll be ready. Most members will be in the country during the next five to six weeks so we will use them as a resource and conduct sessions,” Cayetano told reporters.

At the hearing, Duque revealed that they were able to get additional funding of P2.9 billion from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

He told lawmakers that of the funds from Pagcor, P2 billion would be used for PPE, P240 million for testing and P135 million for surveillance.

Duque said the P420-million funding from PCSO, on the other hand, would be used for hospitalization needs of patients and persons under investigation.

The DOH earlier said it needed at least P3.1 billion to effectively address the threat of the disease.

The DOH reiterated that there are only 2,000 testing kits from Japan left and that the government would need about 40,000 kits.

He welcomed the approval by the Food and Drug Administration of the testing kits produced by the University of the Philippines-National Institutes of Health, but explained that these are still on testing stage.

“If we will be able to get 2,000 testing kit supplies every week, that might be good enough,” he explained.

Duque added that the DOH also needs PPEs that could last for 90 days, for 5,000 health workers.

Reporting problem

At the same hearing, Duque admitted that the DOH has a “problem in reporting system” that led to delayed confirmation of COVID-19 cases in the country.

“But I assure you, there is no deliberate, there was no deliberate intention on the part of the DOH to not disclose important pieces of information as can be legally allowed under the law,” he stressed.

The DOH chief added that they have been releasing limited information on COVID-19 cases – particularly name, age and hospital – due to the law on patient privacy. He said it’s up to local government units to release other information on patients.

Duque admitted that the declaration of public health emergency by the government should have come earlier.

He said he should have made the declaration himself instead of waiting for that of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Under the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Law, the health secretary is given the authority to “declare epidemics of national and/or international concerns except when the same threatens national security.”     – With Paolo Romero