DOH ‘trying to harmonize’ systems with PSA to address gap in number of COVID-19 deaths

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday that it is “trying to harmonize” its system with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to address the gap in the number of COVID-19 deaths.

Based on PSA data, 75,285 people succumbed to COVID-19 last year. But DOH’s data showed there were only 54,054 fatalities due to the coronavirus since the pandemic hit the Philippines in 2020.

“Ang Philippine Statistics Authority po, kumukuha po sila ng datos galing sa mga death certificates na sinusumite ng mga local government units at mga implementing units nila,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said during the Laging Handa briefing.

(The PSA gets their data from death certificates which are submitted by local government units and their implementing units.)

READ: 9,493 new COVID-19 cases recorded, lowest since January 5

“Ngayon, ‘pag tinignan ho natin ‘yan, ikukumpara sa datos namin, ‘yung sa amin ho vina-validate pa ho namin,” she added.

(Now, if we look at it and compare it to our data, we are still validating ours.)

According to Vergeire, the PSA included individuals whose main cause of death is not COVID.

READ: COVID 4th leading cause of death, says PSA

“So, you might find in the death certificates na ang pangunahing ikinamatay ng tao maari ay vehicular accident pero may COVID siya. So, kinukuha po ‘yun at naitatala na COVID na rin,” she noted.

(So, you might find in the death certificates that the main cause of death, for instance, is vehicular accident but he/she has COVID. So, they get it and list it as COVID.)

“As compared to the DOH kung saan ‘pag vinalidate po natin ‘yung cause of death. ‘Pag tinignan ho namin, ‘pag vehicular accident tapos incidental lang ang COVID, ang pangunahing pagkamatay is vehicular accident not COVID,” the health official explained.

(As compared to the DOH, we validate the cause of death. If COVID is incidental, the main cause of death is a vehicular accident, not COVID.)

To have a uniform tally, Vergeire said they are seeking a harmonized process with the PSA.

“So, kaya hindi po talaga magtutugma ang Philippine Statistics Authority at DOH sa ngayon (So, there will be a gap in the data of PSA and DOH as of now). So, we are trying to harmonize our systems and process with the Philippine Statistics Authority para (so) eventually po magtutugma na tayo (it will match) and they can also adopt the validation process that DOH is doing,” said Vergeire.

Commission on Population (Popcom) Executive Director Jeepy Perez on Tuesday said that the DOH data is “current but incomplete.”

“[DOH] data is facility-based, from laboratories and health facilities that provide input to Covid Kaya. This makes it incomplete when it comes to mortality since all deaths are reported to civil registrars in all [local government units] nationwide. This is collected by [PSA] and is the source for mortality data officially reported by [the government],” he said in a message to reporters.

“[DOH] data is very current but also incomplete and not the official source for mortality. Also [DOH] only lists [COVID] cases with [reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction] results. [PSA] also covers deaths reported as [COVID] but without lab confirmation, [COVID] not identified but probable [COVID] due to symptoms or clinical findings and lab results [which] indicate [COVID]. In 2020 21k died w/ [COVID] unidentified and 23k as of [October] 2021. And 43k deaths are [COVID] deaths [without] confirmation. Many pneumonia deaths are classified as such [without] identifying the bacterium. But [COVID] can be diagnosed based on specific signs and symptoms by doctors,” Perez also pointed out.

The country logged the highest mortality rate in 2021 with 768,504 fatalities, Popcom reported.

KGA