MANILA, Philippines??If you?re not sick, don?t insist that you are.?
The piece of advice came from an irate Department of Health (DoH) official, who asked the public not to overreact and seek medical treatment and a throat swab test at the slightest sign or symptom of the Influenza A(H1N1) virus.
Dr. Vito Roque, surveillance officer of the National Epidemiology Center, Monday said the government had only one laboratory and was spending a minimum of P4,000 each for these tests.
Because of the swine flu scare, the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa City is swamped with some 300 specimens daily, up from only 20 to 30 a few weeks ago.
?We don?t want to use the word ?praning? (paranoid) but let?s be socially responsible,? Roque said at a press briefing in Malacańang. ?It?s a burden on our public health services, particularly in the lab examinations.?
But how would you know if you?re sick unless you go to a doctor?
?This is the basic premise: if you don?t have signs and symptoms or risk factors, why seek treatment?? Roque said.
Under observation
He insisted that priority be given to ?cases under observation? (CUO)?sick people who had traveled to A(H1N1)-affected countries, and had been in contact with confirmed cases.
Roque said health officials were also on the lookout for the high-risk population?the very young and very old, those with compromised immune system, those with diabetes, asthma, heart and kidney problems and those with uncontrolled hypertension.
Despite constant reminders by the DoH, he said people not falling under these categories would still insist on having their throat swab specimens tested.
Clogged
As a result, Roque said the RITM was getting clogged with specimens and results had to wait for about three days.
Roque said many of the tests turned out negative, anyway.
He said the government would tap the facilities of Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu to accommodate specimens for the Visayas and Mindanao.
The Lung Center of the Philippines and San Lazaro Hospital will also be asked to examine throat swabs using guidelines prepared by the DoH.
Roque said tests were free for patients under the CUO category and who went to a government hospital.
Those who would go to private hospitals would have to pay extra for say, freight cost for the specimen.
Roque said members of Philippine Health Insurance Corp. could use their health cards for treatment. He said Philhealth members could avail themselves of as much as P70,000 for the treatment.
Soldiers infected
Seven soldiers were infected with the swine flu virus as 11 others remained in isolation for further observation, according to a military official.
Although they have fully recovered, the seven soldiers from the Philippine Navy are still completing their medication, said Navy spokesperson Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo.
The DoH has stopped providing daily updates on the count of confirmed and suspected cases, but will only give weekly updates on cases.
?Some people might say we?re already downplaying because we?re not providing daily updates anymore. But this doesn?t mean we are not doing our job anymore. We are just focusing our work,? said Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy, an infectious disease specialist of the DoH.
House reopens
Amid a tight health watch that would last up to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo?s State of the Nation Address next month, the House of Representatives reopened Monday.
After being shut down for six days following the death of an employee partly due to the virus, the Batasang Pambansa complex in Quezon City welcomed workers and visitors, but they had to be thermally scanned before being allowed inside.
The whole complex was disinfected during its closure.
All entrances had guards armed with the handheld thermal scanners that are pointed at the people?s foreheads to get their temperature.
Those who register 38 degrees Celsius or higher were told to go home.
Those with lower temperatures were allowed entry and made to wear a green and yellow ?fever free? sticker. With reports from Dona Pazzibugan and Jocelyn R. Uy and Leila B. Salaverria
