DESPITE the objection of the Doctors to the Barrios (DTTBs) that their deployment to Cebu City will deprive the villages they serve of “gatekeepers,” the Department of Health (DOH) is pushing through with a decision to temporarily assign 40 doctors from Western Visayas to the Covid-ravaged city to provide critical relief as part of the national response to the “emergency situation.”
While acknowledging that there are DTTBs who refused deployment, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire thanked those who heeded the call of the DOH.
She stressed that the DOH “acted within the bounds of its authority” when it ordered the deployment.
“The Department of Health called on doctors who have rendered service to the country during this time that we are in a state of public health emergency and some of them revised, “ Vergeire said during the the DOH Beat Covid televised press conference.
On Sunday, the DTTBs from Region 6 and Region 7 refused to heed the order issued by Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III, stressing that their duty in the barrios is also “crucial if we, as a nation, truly intend to Heal As One.”
“Let us not allow the disadvantaged communities to suffer from the loss of their rural health physicians at a time when they are needed the most,” stressed the DTTBs in a statement.
They also said that in the fight against this pandemic, the DTTBs are in a strategic position in this battle—in the frontlines in the communities.
“Due to the return of locally stranded individuals and overseas Filipino workers, cases of Covid-19 are on the rise not just in cities but also in municipalities,” they pointed out. “Other health concerns remain and health programs continue to be implemented. If the goal of this reassignment is to address the overwhelmed capacity of private hospitals in Cebu City, the DTTBs are in a position to help decongest hospitals by providing primary care in our communities,” the group said.
Meanwhile, Vergeire said that DOH Regional Director for Central Visayas, Dr. Jaime Bernadas, reported to Duque that the Cebu City’s health-care system is “overwhelmed with patient load at the moment.”
The DOH said the barrio doctors’ deployment was warranted by the increasing number of new cases and widespread community transmission in majority of barangays in Cebu City, as well as the consistent case doubling time of less than seven days and the significant increase in critical care utilization against critical care capacity. These were also the reasons Cebu City was placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) through the Inter-Agency Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) Resolution No. 46-A.
“Following the observation of National Task Force Lead Secretary Carlito Galvez and Cebu Overseer Secretary Roy Cimatu and reports of CHD [Center for Health
Development] 7 Director Jaime Bernadas that the Cebu City health- care system is overwhelmed with patient load at the moment, Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III issued a directive to deploy Doctors to the Barrios and other health-care workers to urgently respond to the brewing situation. Also among those who were quick to rise to the call were health-care workers from the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” the DOH said in a statement on Monday.
Late Sunday, some of the DTTBs urged the DOH to “desist the abrupt exploitative order” to transfer them to Cebu City from their assigned municipalities in Region 6 And 7.
“We, the Doctors to the Barrios Batches 36-ALAB and 37-MANDALA strongly condemn this directive because: [1] the involved doctors have not been suitably informed through writing, [2] no proper consultation with the stakeholders was done prior to this directive, [3] detailed guidelines and protocols to protect the doctors in this temporary reassignment are not provided, and [4] it contradicts the thrust of the DTTB Program,” the group’s statement read.
They said that the “absence of proper communication” clearly justifying the temporary reassignment of rural health physicians serving in Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDAs) to serve in private hospitals in Cebu City “is a clear violation of the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers. This reassignment shall be made, ultimately, in the interest of public service.”
According to Republic Act 7305, also known as the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers, Sec. 6. Transfer or Geographical Reassignment of Public Health Workers: “(c) a public health worker shall not be transferred and or reassigned, except when made in the interest of public service, in which case, the employee concerned shall be informed of the reasons therefore in writing.”
The group said the orders “were done abruptly and haphazardly, at the expense of the Doctors to the Barrios and the communities that they serve.”
However, the DOH stressed that the temporary assignment is not new, as DTTBs have been temporarily redeployed in the past under similar emergency situations, such as the Marawi siege and the Supertyphoon Yolanda response.
“The redeployed doctors are Rural Health Physicians, not Municipal Health Officers, which means that their respective municipalities will not be left doctorless during their assignment and health-care services will continue.”
The DOH said that a pre-deployment orientation will be conducted and the DTTBs will be provided roundtrip transportation, statutory allowances, actual hazard duty pay, accommodations, and other incidental expenses during their deployment period in Cebu City, including post-deployment quarantine.
Likewise, the DOH reiterated that the very nature of the DTTB program is to deploy doctors, usually to remote areas where access to healthcare is a challenge, and where quality health-care service is most needed.
“As the country remains in a state of public health emergency due to Covid-19, and cases reaching a critical point in Cebu City, the Department is grateful to all who heeded the call of duty during these daunting times,” the DOH concluded.
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