News Briefs: Nov. 22, 2018

Self-medication puts public at risk of AMR–Duque

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III is urging the public to put an end to self-medication which, he said, is putting the country at greater risk of developing antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Duque said it was important for people given medicines, such as antibiotics, to complete their prescription since not doing so would put them at risk of AMR, or the ability of a bacteria or virus to stop medicines from working against it.

AMR, he said, is a “serious global health concern,” as the World Health Organization has pointed out that this causes standard treatments to be “ineffective” and for infections to “persist and spread to others.”

Duque added: “Let us put an end to our self-medication behavior. [We should] avail ourselves of the right prescription and completely take them. Because if not, we would have a problem since the next time you would take the medicine you did not fully take, you might end up spending more.” —Jovic Yee

Xi to PH lawmakers: China will boost people-to-people ties

China is looking at opening its doors to more English-language teachers and nurses from the Philippines, as well as doubling the almost one million Chinese tourists who visit the country every year, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Congress leaders on Wednesday.

Xi “laid down to the members of the Congress his future plans for Filipinos, which include increasing job opportunities for teachers and nurses, multiplying mutual visits from one million to two million and opening up free trade to the Philippines, among others,” Senate President Vicente Sotto III said.

Sotto and Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo led their respective chambers in a joint call on Xi at Shangri-La at the Fort hotel in Taguig City, in which they shared views on improving “people-to-people” relationship between the two countries. —DJ Yap

Bello: SC ruling won’t leave Filipino teachers jobless

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said that teachers should not fret that they would be left unemployed just because the Supreme Court ruled that Filipino and two other subjects are no longer required in college.

Bello said there was no reason for them to believe that thousands of teachers would become jobless as he pointed out that there is a fallback for them since “our teachers do not just teach Filipino.”

“They shouldn’t worry… there is a demand for English teachers,” Bello said. Early this month, the high court upheld the Commission on Higher Education’s Memorandum Order No. 20, which excluded Filipino, “panitikan” (literature) and Constitution as core subjects in college.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers claimed the ruling would make redundant about 10,000 Filipino teachers. —Jovic Yee