DOH had lapses in COVID pandemic response, says vaccine panel member
Facade of the DOH main office in Manila. INQUIRER.net file photo
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) admittedly had lapses in its COVID-19 pandemic response, given the current controversies hounding the department including unpaid benefits to health workers and procurement of supposedly overpriced medical supplies, an infectious disease expert who also works for the department said Monday.
Dr. Rontgene Solante, a member of the country’s vaccine expert panel, said the DOH had lapses in accountability and monitoring.
“I think we lost on the way in terms of the way we look at accountability, monitoring, I think there is something wrong with that. We feel that there is something wrong in that aspect especially when we have this pandemic,” he said in an interview on ABS CBN News Channel.
If he were to rate the DOH’s performance on a scale of one to 10, Solante said he would give it a rating of “within six to seven,” which is lower than his grade of eight to the department before the pandemic.
“I’m also from DOH, being a government employee, I know the people there are really trying their best to put up a very good performance and service,” he said.
“It’s just that because of the overwhelming responsibilities, and all of this things that is happening na sabay sabay. Siguro mayroon lang talagang napabayaan or nagkulang lang ng kaunti. I think we can recover from this,” he added.
(Because of the overwhelming responsibilities and all things that are happening simultaneously. Maybe there was negligence or lapses. I think we can recover from this.)
He, however, thinks Health Secretary Francisco Duque III’s resignation is not an option since it would cause chaos in the agency.
“I don’t think resignation is the option here because that person is still performing. It’s just the matter of tapping the other people inside of the DOH,” he said.
“If you let the person resign and we are still in the midst of pandemic, that will be chaotic in the department,” he added.
