DOH adjustments in fight vs COVID-19 welcomed

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Panfilo Lacson has welcomed the decision of the Department of Health (DOH) leadership to make some adjustments to deal with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) threat, but noted the move should have been done earlier.

Lacson said for one, through the private sector’s initiative, in coordination with the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases and other government agencies, massive rapid testing commenced on Tuesday, if it was not being done already.

“Second, contact-tracing, hopefully, will now be more efficient with the latest guidelines issued by the IATF for mandatory disclosure of COVID-19-infected persons for more efficient self-quarantine,” he said Monday.

The senator added that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of test kits, including at least 10 rapid antibody test kits and 23 PCR-based test kits as of April 8, after a long and unnecessary delay.

Lacson noted that the delay was amid the willingness of private donors to spend big money to help accelerate mass testing through the use of rapid antibody test kits, “even after we asked the FDA about the usefulness of such rapid test kits as early as our March 24 caucus prior to our 18-hour plenary debates to pass Republic Act 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act on the same day, with some Cabinet members in attendance.”

“What I can’t understand, for the life of me, is why the DOH keeps issuing circulars that seem to circumvent Sec. 4(j) of the Bayanihan Act that provides for some leeway for donated test kits that otherwise have already been in use in other jurisdictions, by mandating the turnover of all donations to DOH but would not allow its use,” he said.

“This is compounded by a requirement for accreditation that includes, among others, an application by the manufacturer or distributor of such health products. Since these are donations and therefore not for business purposes, how in the world will these donors look for local distributors, or look for the manufacturer to file for an application?” he added.