MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the Department of Health (DOH) to ensure proper treatment of dengue patients in the country after the agency declared a national dengue epidemic.
“That is the direction. We have to treat the patients because there is an epidemic. If you’re sick of dengue, you have to be treated,” Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing.
READ: DOH declares national dengue epidemic
But Panelo assure the public that the DOH is on top of the situation.
“The Department of Health is doing its job. They are performing what is to be done. Of course, the cure of a national epidemic is to treat the patients,” he said.
He said the DOH has “enough funds” to address the dengue epidemic in the country.
“Our problem might be that there might be not enough doctors and hospitals if they’re deluged with patients suffering from the same,” he said.
The dengue epidemic in the country has so far claimed the lives of at least 622 people since January 2019. /je