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Majority of Filipinos fi nd it risky to go to religious services, markets, work as pandemic persists: SWS
MANILA (Mabuhay) — Majority of Filipinos find it "risky" to go to the market, attend religious services and go to their workplaces as the COVID-19 pandemic persists, according to an independent Social Weather Stations survey released Wednesday.
Of 1,249 adult Filipinos surveyed nationwide, 79 percent said they consider it risky to their health and well-being to go the grocery store while 69 percent said it was risky to attend religious services, according to SWS.
Some 65 percent of more than half of the respondents with a job during the Sep. 17 to 20 poll said they consider it risky to go to their place of work.
Among them, the sentiment was greatest in Balance Luzon (57 percent), Metro Manila (52 percent), Mindanao (51 percent), and Visayas (43 percent).
The number of Filipinos who find it risky to go the market was highest in Balance Luzon at 80 percent, followed by Metro Manila at 76 percent, Visayas at 75 percent, and Mindanao at 74 percent.
The proportion of those who find it dangerous to attend religious services was highest in Visayas (76 percent), followed by Balance Luzon (70 percent), Metro Manila (69 percent), and Mindanao (62 percent).
Government last month allowed 10 percent capacity for religious gatherings ahead of the holidays.
The poll was conducted using mobile and computer-assisted telephone interviewing as community quarantine measures eased in most areas of the country. It had a sampling error margin of ±3 percent for national percentages. (MNS)
MANILA (Mabuhay) — The Philippines will finally start enrolling patients for its clinical trial that aims to test whether the anti-flu drug Avigan is also effective against COVID-19.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Friday said that they are just waiting for the insurance documents to be finalized.
“May minor na comment ang ating legal service for this insurance document (Our legal service has a minor comment for this insurance document),” she said during a virtual briefing, referring to insurance coverage of the participants
“But we already gave the signal to our proponent, they are now going to start recruiting participants for the trial,” she added.
Vergeire said that once participants are recruited, the trial can officially start “hopefully by next week.”
The Avigan or favipiravir trial was supposed to start back in August but unsigned documents and other requirements delayed it.
As early as March, the Philippines requested Japan for access to the drug. It received the tablets in August.
Last month, Fujifilm, the company that developed the drug said their clinical study showed reduced recovery times for COVID-19 patients.
The trial is supposed to last for 9 months and will be conducted in 4 hospitals: Philippine General Hospital, Sta. Ana Hospital, Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Quirino Memorial Medical Center. (MNS)
DOH: Universal Health Care law implementation a go regardless of PhilHealth status
MANILA (Mabuhay) — The implementation of the Universal Health Care law is still a go regardless of the fate of the state insurer Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Friday.
“Whether or not ma-privatize or public [pa rin] ang PhilHealth, hindi matitigil ang pagpapatupad ng UHC law,” Vergeire said in an online forum.
The privatization, if not abolition of the state insurer was raised by no less than President Rodrigo Duterte after PhilHealth officials were accused of anomalous disbursements of P15 billion worth of Internal Revenue Mechanism (IRM) fund to hospitals.
Still, Vergeire said the controversy will not get in the way of UHC.
“Wala pong sinabi na hindi na ito maipapatupad dahil lang nagre-restructure ang ibang ahensiya ng gobyerno,” she added.
Likewise, the Health department also backed the inclusion of mental health expenses under the UHC law coverage.
“We only have one health care worker for 100,000 individuals. We want to change this, and we want to make quality mental health care services accessible,” Vergeire pointed out.
“Kaya kaisa po kami ng WHO (World Health Organization) in pushing for highest standards of mental health care and well-being at maisama ang mental health [sa coverage ng] UHC,” she added.
The proposed P4.5 trillion budget for 2021 has earmarked P71 billion for PhilHealth, largely for the implementation of UHC law. (MNS)
Feeding program for students to continue amid pandemic
MANILA (Mabuhay) — The feeding program for children will continue despite blended learning approaches in schools amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, Malacañang said Thursday.
In a Palace press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said instead of preparing hot meals for students, nutritious food products will be delivered to households or picked up by parents from schools.
“Hinahatid po ng barangay sa mga malnourished na mga mag-aaral ang libreng at masustansiyang tanghalian sa kanilang mga bahay (The barangay will deliver them to the homes of malnourished students the free nutritious lunch right in their homes),” he said.
Last month, the Department of Education (DepEd) said there will be changes in the feeding program since learning will now be home-based.
Due to the changes in the school calendar, DepEd Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan said the feeding period for this school year is reduced to 60 days for the regular component, which includes nutritious food products, and 50 days for the milk component.
Classes for the school year 2020-2021 started on Oct. 5 after it was moved from its initial schedule of August 24.
Blended learning strategies involve the use of TV and radio-based instruction, as well as modular and online learning.
In June 2018, President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law Republic Act No. 11037 or the Masustansyang Pagkain Para sa Batang Pilipino Act, which establishes a national feeding program for undernourished children in public daycare centers, kindergarten, and elementary school.
Under the law, the government shall provide a supplemental feeding program for daycare children, a school-based feeding program for public school children from kinder to Grade 6, a milk-feeding program, a micronutrient feeding program, health examinations, vaccinations, and deworming among others.
The law also includes the creation of a National Nutrition Information System which will harmonize all existing national and local nutrition databases to identify individuals, groups, and/ or localities that have the highest magnitude of hunger and undernutrition. (MNS)
Get your kids vaccinated for measles — Palace
MANILA (Mabuhay) — Malacañang on Thursday urged parents to get their children vaccinated for measles following predictions of a possible measles outbreak in 2021.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque allayed fears against the government’s immunization campaign, saying a measles vaccine is one of the “oldest” vaccines to be used globally.
“Ang mensahe po ng Presidente: Mga magulang huwag po nating katakutan ang bakuna (The President’s message: Parents, don’t be afraid of getting your children vaccinated),” he said in a Palace press briefing.
Roque said failing to get their children vaccinated could put their health at great risk.
“Bakit pa po natin i-expose sa aberya ating mga minamahal sa buhay na mga chikiting eh samantalang mayroon naman po tayong tried and proven na bakuna laban diyan?(Why will we expose our children to harm when there are tried and proven vaccines to prevent diseases?),” he said.
He acknowledged concerns over vaccines after issues hounding the Dengvaxia anti-dengue vaccine but noted that the case for measles vaccines is different.
“Itong measles naman po, matagal na pong ginagamit iyan so wala po kayong dapat ikatakot ‘no (This measles vaccine has been used for a long time, so you have nothing to fear),” he said.
Last Wednesday, the Department of Health (DOH) said it will conduct a nationwide immunization campaign to prevent a predicted measles outbreak next year.
An estimated 2.4 children under the age of 5 are also susceptible to measles, one of the world’s most contagious diseases.
Meanwhile, Roque also appealed to the public to hang on a bit longer until a vaccine against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is available.
“Antay lang po nang konti, konting tiyaga at ang pangako naman ng Presidente, gagastusin po natin ang kaban ng bayan para mabigyan unang-una ang mga mahihirap ng bakuna laban sa Covid-19 (Just wait a bit longer and the President promised that he’ll spend public funds to give the poor a vaccine against Covid-19),” he said.
Earlier, Roque said the government is ready to implement an immunization plan should a Covid-19 vaccine roll out in the future.
He said the government can allocate PHP20 billion to buy the vaccine with the help of the Philippine International Trading Corp., Land Bank of the Philippines, and the Development Bank of the Philippines.
President Rodrigo Duterte said he will seek a discount from China and Russia on the Covid-19 vaccines that each of the two countries developed and promised to supply the Philippines with. (MNS)
PRRD wants nearly expired DOH medicines released
MANILA (Mabuhay) — Malacañang on Tuesday said President Rodrigo Duterte is urging the Department of Health (DOH) to distribute nearly expired medicines to minimize wastage of government funds.
In a Palace press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this remark after a Commission on Audit (COA) report showed that the DOH has accumulated PHP2.2 billion worth of medicines and other supplies in its inventory that are either expired, nearly expired, or overstocked and slow-moving.
Of the PHP2.2 billion, PHP29 million were expired, PHP1.14 billion were overstocked and PHP1 billion were near expiry.
“Ang mandato po ng Presidente sa DOH lalung-lalo na yung mage-expire na, pakidistribute na po nang hindi masayang at yung mga overstocked at slow-moving na po ilabas na po natin sa ating mga warehouse nang magamit ng ating taongbayan (The instruction of the President to the DOH, especially for medicines that are about to expire, please distribute them so they don’t go to waste and for overstocked and slow-moving to be released so they can be used by our citizens),” he said.
The COA report said the expired, nearly expired or overstocked and slow-moving medicines “hindered the maximum delivery of the highest quality of medical/health care services to the general public and entailed wastage of government funds.”
It attributed the problem to “poor inventory/supply management system covering procurement planning, monitoring, storage and acceptance/issuance/transfer/distribution of goods.”
“The occurrence of these expired, overstocked and nearly expired inventory items is a manifestation of an excessive expenditure since items were procured more than what is needed,” the COA report read.
Given the findings, the COA recommended the DOH to review procurement contracts to see if expired medicines may be returned and replaced by suppliers.
The COA also urged the DOH to exercise prudence in the use of government resources by ensuring that procurement is limited to those immediately needed or for the current year requirement.
COVID-19 cases in the Philippines decreasing — UP experts
MANILA (Mabuhay) — The number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines has been decreasing, according to the University of the Philippines OCTA Research team.
In its report dated October 6, the team said the country's reproduction number, which describes the reproduction of COVID-19 cases, has kept its downward trend.
“The number of cases in the Philippines has been decreasing, and currently at less around 2,500 new cases per day (based on case reports),” the OCTA Research team said.
This is lower compared to the almost 4,000 new cases per day recorded during the last week of August.
“The reproduction number in the Philippines is 0.87, in line with the downward trend in test reports,” it added. A reproduction number below 1 means a flattened curve, according to the experts.
Based on the report, these findings were based on the daily reports of COVID-19 cases in the country from August 25 to October 5.
The number of COVID-19 cases in the National Capital Region, the epicenter of the pandemic in the country, also decreased to less than 1,000 new cases per day, the team said.
Like in nationwide setting, the reproduction number in the region remained below 1 at 0.82 during the same period.
The positivity rate for NCR decreased now to 8% from the 14% recorded during the end of August. This is still above the World Health Organization (WHO) ideal rate of 5%, the OCTA Research team noted.
“Based on available data, the value of R for the entire Philippines and in the NCR has been on a decelerating trend,” the experts said.
According to the team, the situation in the NCR improved as the rate of transmission, the number of cases, and the positivity rate are all on a downward trend.
However, Professor Guido David said the downward trend has been uneven throughout the country.
“Mahirap pa masabi (kung nafa-flatten na ‘yong curve) kasi uneven ‘yong trend,” he said.
“Sa ngayon kasi ‘yong decreasing trend sa Metro Manila, naka-on the way to flattening na tayo of the curve sa NCR pero sa buong bansa, hangga’t may tumataas na kaso, ‘di natin masasabing nafa-flatten natin,” he added.
David said COVID-19 cases in select areas such as Davao del Sur, Iloilo, Misamis Oriental, South Cotabato, Surigao del Sur, Western Samar, Zamboanga del Sur, Benguet, Baguio City, Nueva Ecija, Quezon and Pangasinan are still increasing.
“‘Yong reproduction number natin is still less than 1 pero may increases din sa ibang lugar and kailangan din natin ma-monitor ‘yong mga areas na nagkakaroon ng increases… Hopefully, ma-control nila ‘yan kasi kaunti lang naman, ‘di naman ganoon karami,” he said.
“Pero I think ‘yong continued implementation sa NCR ng mga health protocols natin, social distancing, ‘yong wearing of face mask, face shield, I think nakakatulong ‘yan sa pag-decrease ng trend sa NCR,” he added.
Not irreversible
However, the experts pointed out that these positive trends are not irreversible. Due to this, it advised the government, the public, and concerned sectors to maintain their efforts in sustaining it.
“We believe that the strict and universal compliance with minimum health standards can lower COVID-19 transmissions in country,” the team said.
The OCTA Research team reiterated its recommendations to the government to urgently scale up its test, trace, and treat strategy to control the spread of the virus.
For the experts, the quarantines must also be augmented with better pandemic surveillance, more effective strategies for physical distancing, and compliance with other health protocols.
To avoid future surges
The experts said there is an urgent need to scale up the capacities of healthcare system. To deal with future surges, they said the government must ensure the following: increased capacity of the national healthcare system to deal with the potential outbreaks; sufficient testing capability to cope with the expected increase in cases; sufficient PPE supplies for the front-liners; set up more isolation facilities in the NCR and around the country; roll out of an effective and aggressive system for contact tracing
With the resumption of many socio-economic activities, the OCTA Research team said the private sector, especially businesses, must also improve their efforts to complement the initiatives of government.
These businesses should ensure safety in workplaces, provide testing as needed, operationalize policies to facilitate contact tracing, and guarantee compliance with minimum health standards.
“The cooperation of the business establishments will significantly reduce the risk of workplace transmission while jump-starting economic recovery,” the experts said. (MNS)
