The chairman of the House of Representatives’ committee on appropriations on Monday appealed to senators to pass at the soonest possible time the measure providing P1.161-billion supplemental budget intended to provide medical assistance to 900,000 children injected with Dengvaxia vaccines.
Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles, the panel’s chairperson, said he is hopeful that the Senate will be able to approve the measure before Congress goes on a one week break beginning Aug. 17.
Nograles said that passing the measure on time will enable the House to provide the needed funding for its implementation as soon as gets enacted.
At the same time, Nograles lamented that budgetary cut in the Department of Health human resource for health deployment program at P8.4 billion under the proposed 2019 cash-based budgeting system of the Department of Budget and Management may affect the implementation of the measure that shall provide assistance to Dengvaxia recipients.
“We appeal to our senators to pass the supplemental budget bill intended to provide medical assistance to 900,000 children injected with Dengvaxia vaccines before Congress on break this week [so that the needed funding for its implementation will be made available in the future while the House is trying to resolve the issue on the cash-based budgeting system with the Budget department],” Nograles said at a news conference Monday.
Congress goes on break on Aug. 17 and will resume its session on Aug. 27.
“The Department of Health (DOH) has started patient check-ups and fieldwork in communities where children were administered Dengvaxia vaccination, but we need the supplemental budget so that the DOH doesn’t need to tap other medical service funds not exclusively allocated for such purpose,” Nograles said, adding that a supplemental Dengvaxia fund would ensure that families affected by the vaccine would be assured of proper medical care and attention.
Nograles said the budget cut in the DOH, specifically in the human resource for health deployment program will adversely affect the number of nurses who will supposedly watch over the Dengvaxia victims.
“If we cut the budget [for the DoH’s human resource deployment program] at a huge amount, there will be no more nurses to be deployed for Dengvaxia patients,” said Nograles.
Last May, the House approved on third and final reading House Bill 7449 which provides that the P1.161-billion budget shall be used exclusively for the following programs, activities, and projects of the Department of Health (DOH):
n Medical Assistance Program for Dengvaxia Vaccinees either Confined or Outpatient – P945,828,000;
n Public Health Management (Assessment and Monitoring of Dengvaxia Vaccinees, including the acquisition of supplies and medicines, provided that not more than P25,000,000 shall be used for the procurement of Dengvaxia Assistance Cards) – P148,296,000; and
Human Resources for Health Deployment – P67,586,000
The measure mandates the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to release the amount to the DOH in accordance with budgeting, accounting and auditing laws, rules and regulations.
On the other hand, the DOH shall issue the corresponding guidelines necessary for the proper implementation of the measure.
The bill provides that the amount appropriated shall be used for the purposes indicated and shall be subject to the relevant special and general provisions of Republic Act 10964 or the General Appropriations Act of 2018.
The bill also states that the appropriations authorized in the Supplemental Budget shall be valid for release and obligation from the date of the effectivity of the measure until fully spent.
The supplemental fund represents partial reimbursement made to the Philippine government through the DOH by French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi Pasteur, makers of the controversial anti-dengue drug, Nograles said.
Dengvaxia was used during the Aquino administration in a massive anti-dengue inoculation program in April 2016. However, after some 900,000 school children had already been administered with Dengvaxia, Sanofi admitted in November 2017 that the new drug could actually worsen symptoms for vaccinated children.
The P3-billion dengue inoculation program has since been suspended by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Nograles noted that many of his fellow probinsyanos were among those who received the vaccine. According to the DOH, the immunization program was fully implemented in public elementary schools in Central Luzon and the Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon (Calabarzon) area.
In a number of areas in Mindanao, Nograles said: “Dengvaxia was actually available and was being administered in private hospitals before the government’s mass vaccination program started.”
“We learned that 400 individuals were given dosages there and we are closely monitoring their health. The same should apply to all the school children who were given the vaccine,” he said.
Nograles expressed worry that in the absence of the supplemental budget, the DOH may be forced to utilize a portion of its existing 2018 budget to assist Dengvaxia victims who continue to get hospitalized.
