Senators criticize DOH handling of coronavirus response

February 4, 2020

Senators criticized the Department of Health (DOH) for its "failure of leadership" in addressing and alleviating possible spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus acute respiratory disease (2019 nCoV) in the country. 

During Tuesday's Senate hearing on the government department's responses on the nCoV, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said only 17 percent of the passengers who boarded the Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific flights with the two Chinese nationals positive for nCoV have been contacted. 

It is only a portion of about 300 passengers who might have contacted the virus after flying with the nCoV positive patients.

One person passed away of the 2019 novel coronavirus last Saturday. The other person, who has been confirmed to have the virus  

Duque reasoned before the Senate that the contact tracing was on "full blast" but his subordinates were not able to inform him early that only 17 people have been reached by the health department. 

“This is quite operational and I have been in touch with our epidemiology bureau. In fact, for the record, I would like to state his name. His name is Director Ferchito Avelino and in all of our meetings, there has been no indication or no issues raised to me that this is a problem. He is saying that he has already spoken to my undersecretary but I am not aware. As Secretary of Health, I don’t know the specific measures of how this should be done,” Duque explained.

“I can see here an issue of lack of transparency on the part of some of my people here. I would like to investigate this,” he added.

Duque said the responsible airlines were not releasing information which hinders them to contact the remaining passengers. 

"Airlines are not sharing contact details of passengers. They are invoking confidentiality. We have the list but not the contact details, (those information) were redacted," Duque said. 

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr also said forms filled out by the passengers should be made available for the Senate and the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) should address the issue. 

"Nobody can enter this country without filling out a form. That form is in the custody of immigration and it should have been accessible to you guys (Senators)," said Locsin. 

"Those two characters (Bureau of Immigration and Civil Aeronautics Board) should do their job," he added. 

However, in defense of the Department of Transportation, Secretary Arthur Tugade said there were no protocols given in regards to contact tracing. He said the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) should manage  contact tracing of the passengers. 

Despite explanations given by the department heads, Senators Francis Pangilinan and Panfilo Lacson Jr criticized the DOH for it's failure to handle the situation. 

"That flight came from Hong Kong. For all you know you have 15 to 20 asymptomatic passengers. You err on the side of caution, you go the whole mile and figure out where these 300 are. (Contacting only) 17 percent of those passengers is completely unacceptable," Pangilinan said.

"I do not think that it is just a failure of communication but a failure of leadership from the Secretary of Health," he added. 

Lacson said DOH and Secretary Duque should be the most responsible for the issue and not other departments or airlines.

"What happens to the principle of the unit of command? I thought this is a health issue. The DOH should be the first line of defense and should be designated as OPR - the Office of Primary Responsibility," questioned Lacson.

"We should not be blaming other people because if this is a health issue it's wrong to point to BI and CAAP. It should be the initialtive of DOH," the senator added. Cristina Eloisa Baclig/DMS