BARMM allocates P500 million for COVID-19 vaccine procurement

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — The Bangsamoro government is allocating P500 million for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines for constituents once available, a senior regional official said.

Executive Secretary Abdulraof Macacua of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao revealed the plan Thursday as they distributed 31,900 sets of biohazard protection supplies to representatives of frontline health facilities in Maguindanao and in Lanao del Sur.

There is prevalence of COVID-19 cases in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, both component-provinces of BARMM.

The symbolic release of the supplies, held at the Bangsamoro regional capitol compound in Cotabato City, was led by Macacua and BARMM’s health minister, physician Amirel Usman.

Macacua said the office of BARMM’s chief minister, Ahod Ebrahim, has informed the National Inter-Agency Task Force on COVID-19 of its having earmarked P500 million for the purchase of anti-coronavirus vaccines once the government allows importation from abroad.

“We have asked the implementer of the government’s anti-COVID-19 policies, Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez, Jr., to help us out,” Macacua said.

Macacua, Amirel and other senior officials of the Ministry of Health-BARMM together facilitated Thursday’s dispersal of the supplies essential to the anti-COVID-19 efforts of recipient health institutions.

The beneficiaries of the support packages --- the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center in Cotabato City, the Amai Pakpak Medical Center in Marawi City, the Cotabato Sanitarium Hospital and the Datu Blah Sinsuat District Hospital, both in Maguindanao --- have isolation facilities for COVID-19 patients.

The MOH-BARMM also turned over to the Maguindanao Integrated Provincial Health Office the same provisions during the event.

Physicians Ibrahim Pangato and Michael Macion, chiefs of the Cotabato Sanitarium Hospital and the Datu Blah District Hospitals, respectively, separately told reporters they are grateful to Amirel for dispersing the supplies essential to the BARMM government’s war on coronavirus.