P16.8 billion budget for COVID-19 testing will last for 3 months – Duque

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) has a P16.8-billion budget, which is good for three months, to fund COVID-19 testing in the country, according to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.

“For three months, we have P16.8 billion,” Duque said during a Senate hearing after Senator Nancy Binay asked him if the DOH had enough funds to cover 30,000 tests per day, a goal which the government plans to accomplish by the end of May.

Before this, Binay had asked Duque on who would shoulder the cost of the 30,000 targeted COVID-19 tests per day.

“The government will pay entirely for the testing that will be conducted by public or government laboratories and testing centers. The budget from the DOH is used precisely to provide these tests to the public in general,” he said.

According to Duque, the DOH will shoulder half of the total cost of the tests, while half will be paid for by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

“The budget from PhilHealth will shoulder the tests for OFWs (overseas Filipino workers),” he added.

The health secretary further assured that there would be no out-of-pocket expense for COVID-19 tests which would be taken by individuals who would meet the criteria of the DOH testing guidelines.

According to the DOH, those to be subjected to testing are symptomatic individuals, individuals arriving from overseas, all close contacts of COVID-19 patients, and those who tested positive in rapid antibody test results.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Philippines health officials have confirmed 13,221 COVID-19 cases in the country. Of the number, 2,932 have so far recovered while 842 have died.

The Philippines has so far tested over 240,000 individuals. The government is eyeing to test a total of two million Filipinos with a target goal of increasing the country’s testing capacity to 50,000 COVID-19 tests per day by June.

/atm