‘Time first!’

“Time First” or the more familiar “Time Perst” is something we’ve all said or heard growing up. Often we would declare it when we were tired from play or our team was losing at “Patentero” or street basketball. Genuine or deceitful, declaring “Time First” was something everyone honored even those who disagreed with it maybe because we all knew that somewhere down the line we knew we would ultimately use the “Time First” option to reset the game or prevent defeat.

Last Friday, several major associations of doctors and health workers called: “Time First!” but not in a game, nor a maneuver for personal advantage, but because our front liners in the fight against Covid-19 are getting sick, some leaving the battle and they want the IATF and President Duterte to place the entire Mega Metro Manila under ECQ.  If we don’t, we will once again start paying tribute to dead health workers while hospitals carry on closing their gates to new cases of Covid-19.

On the other side of this real life battle are mayors, businessmen, and national officials who while recognizing the legitimacy of the “Time First” are resisting the call because they too have serious concerns. “Time First” will give hospitals a break, time to recover but it will also mean that the burden that comes with the re-imposition of ECQ will fall in the hands of local officials: How to feed, shelter and treat the millions who will once again be unemployed or broke. The truth of the matter is that the burden of Covid-19 has fallen on health workers and local officials. In spite of all the talk, pressers and declarations of the IATF and Malacañang, the national government already handed off the war or “passed the buck” to LGUs months ago. The national government is simply orchestrating matters, playing referee and in some cases even playing God by trying to find a balance between saving lives and saving the economy. To be fair it is not an enviable position or decision to make, but lets not be blind to the fact that on the ground it is the health workers and local officials fighting the real war.

Of course our economists will bring up the equally pressing concern about and “Economic Pandemic” heading our way if we bring back ECQ. That’s their job, that’s their responsibility. But now, the medical practitioners and associations have found their voice and truth be told the national government that pretends to be in control has no choice but to do what the doctors say or start buying body bags. In fact, the national government and the Department of Health had already made the very serious mistake of not fully and quickly acting on the recommendations of a team of medical experts who had far more real life experience and encounter with Covid-19. Back in April 2020, we hosted a delegation of 12 medical experts from China who came to observe and share and give advice on best practices to fight the spread of Covid-19.

Their advice were: #1 The working hours of shift of health workers should be cut into 4-hour periods, they should also be confined in a dedicated rest facility within or very near their place of work, no going home, in order to avoid community transmission or cross infection. #2 Mass testing and contact tracing needed to be done immediately. #3 All individuals suspected to be positive should be sent to an isolation facility. # 4 Dedicated hospitals should be built or put up for treatment of Covid-19 patients only.  In response, DOH officials said the 4-hour work schedule was impossible because there were not enough health workers. But much later if not too late in the game, DOH started calling for workers and volunteers and retirees to help, even those living outside Metro Manila. The DOH did not act immediately on the policy of “confining” workers in many parts of the country and that led to community transmission as well as violent discrimination against workers.

We failed to get Mass testing off the ground quickly and instead got into arguments about the definition of Mass testing, arguments about Rapid Test versus RT-PCR swab tests, and the real number of tests being administered week by week. As far as Contact tracing goes, we actually had to pull out an elected Mayor to function as technical expert on contact tracing. We had to wait for Benjie Magalong’s star to shine before somebody decided to put someone in-charge! As far as isolation facilities goes, Secretary Carlito Galvez deserves a star for hitting the ground running in building or renovating government facilities into isolation facilities. But Secretary Duque and the DOH gets a black eye for their “Mestizo” version of isolation where they allowed home quarantine, barangay quarantine, and quarantine in isolation facilities instead of just one form or place of quarantine.

And now we are where we were in March and April. Hospitals are shutting doors because they no longer have capacity. But that was what the Chinese Medical delegation told the DOH and the media: We need to build hospitals/ICU facilities just like they did in Wuhan, China. But instead, the DOH kept badgering and finger pointing at public and private hospitals to convert non-Covid wards and beds into Covid-treatment beds. That is not creating capacity, that is conversion and redefinition of terms. It could have been done and it can still be done. Just expropriate all events tent that were being used for bazaars, product launches and weddings etc. They could have hauled all the unclaimed and unused container vans and parked them in rows, refitted them just like in war. Listen to advice or grieve!

I leave you with these 2 African proverbs: “Give advice; if people don’t listen, let adversity teach them” – “The ear that does not listen goes with the head that is chopped off”. May GOD Help Us All.

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