SENATE President Vicente Sotto III has cautioned Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III against pursuing a plan to spend P11.7 billion to bankroll the DOH’s plan to hire contact tracers to track down potential carriers of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
In a news statement issued on Monday, the Senate President suggested that DOH instead use the P11.7-billion budget for the treatment of persons afflicted with Covid-19.
The Senate leader advised that “it will be wiser and more practical to divert the P11.7 billion for the treatment of patients,” stressing that “we need funds to treat our sick kababayans. Mas mahalagang gamitin na lang ang pondong ito para sa pagbili ng mga gamot at medical equipment na makakatulong sa paggaling ng mga pasyente.”
Sotto clarified that “what I am suggesting is for the DOH to be more prudent on how the country’s funds are being used. But of course, the decision is still with the President.”
Voicing concerns the multibillion funding could go to waste and be spent on people untrained for the task, the Senate leader cautioned that “you cannot just deploy anyone to do the job.”
“Contact tracing can only be effective if you use people who are trained in investigation like how they handled it in Baguio,” Sotto observed, adding that “if the DOH hires people who have no experience in investigation, then the program is practically useless. The people they will hire will just ask black and white questions and get answers that will not yield the needed information to help the government track down people who might have [contracted] the virus.”
Sotto added that “neophyte contract tracers will still need to be taught how to go about contact tracing,” which the Senate President noted will only delay the process.
Moreover, he suggested that DOH can coordinate their contact tracing efforts with other government agencies which have the experience and manpower to go around the country.
“The DOH does not need to hire new people to do contact tracing. It can coordinate with other government offices and tap displaced employees to carry out the task at no additional cost to the government,” Sotto said.
The DOH chief earlier informed the Senate Committee of the Whole that the DOH needs P11.7 billion to fund its contact tracing efforts against Covid-19 with Duque adding the health department intends to hire 130,000 contact tracers for three months to “cover a 1:800 ratio in the entire country.”
Image credits: Louie Sauro Millang/ Senate PRIB via AP