Health workers in provinces told: Honor your oath, gov’t to protect you in COVID-19 fight

MANILA, Philippines — The government is urging health workers in the provinces to remember their sworn duty to provide the public with medical care and join the fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

This after doctors and nurses in the rural areas reportedly opposed the government’s plan to pull them out of their communities and serve as substitutes for the exhausted medical workers in Metro Manila, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the country that has already sickened almost 120,000 people nationwide.

READ: Health workers from other regions eyed as ‘substitutes’ for NCR frontliners

“Kapag ikaw po ay isang propesyunal alam mo naman po ang gagawin mo. Bilang isang doktor, bilang sila ay medical professional ang trabaho talaga nila ay magsalba ng buhay at naniniwala naman po ako na magiging tapat sa sinumpaang tungkulin ang ating mga fronliners,” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a televised Palace press briefing Friday.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire echoed this, adding that the government is ready to protect them from the infectious disease.

“Sana isipin po natin ‘yung paglilingkod natin hindi lang po para sa inyong lugar kundi para sa buong bansa dahil kailangan po namin kayo,” Vergeire said.

“Pangalawa po, hindi ho namin sila pababayaan. Kung sakaling tayo po ay magdedeploy, tayo naman po ay magkakaroon ng safety measures para sila po ay hindi mahawa at hindi rin sila makakapanghawa,” she added.

She explained that those who will be deployed will be tested for respiratory illness, especially those who came from areas where there is a transmission of the disease.

The Health official also pointed out that there would also deploy replacements for doctors and nurses from the rural areas who will be deployed in the metropolis to ensure that their communities will be properly taken care of.

“Pangatlo, kung ano man ho ang inyong maiiwanang responsibilidad  sa areas niyo hindi ho pababayaan ng gobyerno na walang papalit sa inyo dahil alam naman po namin na kailangan din nga mga doktor sa mga areas na panggagalingan niyo,” Vergeire said.

“Magkakaroon ng konting rotation, magkakaroon ng konting tulungan pero we are assuring especially our local officials na kapag umalis ang mga doktor at umalis sila sa ibang lugar meron naman ho tayong mga ihahandang kapalit na healthcare workers para hindi mapapabayaan ang lugar ninyo.”

Metro Manila along with the provinces of Laguna, Cavite, Rizal, and Bulacan have been reverted to the stricter modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) from Aug. 4 to 18 to give medical frontliners a “timeout” to recuperate from exhaustion in the fight against the pandemic and to provide the government with time to “regroup” and beef up its COVID-19 response.

During the lockdown, the government intends to tap medical professionals from rural areas where there are fewer COVID-19 cases to replaces health workers in Metro Manila.

Vergeire, however, noted that the deployment to the metropolis will be voluntary.

/MUF