"It better be good."
As of July 23, there were a total of 74,390 confirmed COVID-19 cases (2,200 recorded for the same day); 24,383 total recoveries; and 1,871 fatalities. The pandemic is not waning in the Philippines despite the fact that Metro Manila and other parts of the country have been under various degrees of quarantine for more than four months now.
People are quite anxious, scared, and angry because government efforts have not been significantly successful in controlling the spread of this deadly virus. There has been a deluge of cases after Metro Manila opened a bit more under General Community Quarantine (GCQ).
Government officials have been clear that the easing of restrictions in Metro Manila was because of the sagging economy. The easing up of restrictions was NOT because the country has already flattened the curve of COVID-19 cases. Therefore, government should have been better prepared. The huge increase in cases proves that we are far from winning this war. Recently, a good number of big Metro Manila hospitals have announced that they could no longer accept any more cases because they have surpassed their capacity.
Recent pronouncements of our officials, however, are not encouraging. Several Cabinet members intimated that now, it is already up to the people to protect themselves from COVID-19. The president himself, in his last address to the nation seemed to have given up saying the people’s sufferings should instead be offered to God.
Add to this, Duterte even advised the people to disinfect their face masks using gasoline! This, of course elicited tons of criticisms from netizens because of the possibility that some gullible “fans” of Duterte might actually do it. As expected, the Presidential Spokesperson made light of the situation and said that his boss was, as, usual, joking. Seriously though, how can one joke about something that can harm, if not kill people?
Add to this is the “plan” of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to use community gossipmongers to trace suspected COVID+ persons! We should really be laughing if only we were watching a comedy show.
People have been demanding the three Ts — test, trace, and treat approach since the start of the pandemic. The clamor for mass testing has never stopped but this continues to fall on deaf ears. Instead of focusing on police and military solutions like arresting people, government should give more attention to medical and social solutions to COVID-19. We have spent four months in quarantine without flattening the curve. When are we going to learn?
Testing people for the virus is crucial. But ordinary people cannot get themselves tested because it is expensive. A recent conversation on Twitter centered on how expensive getting tested is and even those in to the middle class were complaining. For instance, these costs for COVID-19 tests were mentioned: Asian Hospital, P8,150.00; Cardinal Santos Med. Center, P8,000.00; Chinese General Hospital, P5,500.00; and Makati Medical Center, P8,150.00. The cheapest that was mentioned was P3,800.00 done by the Philippine General Hospital.
No poor person can afford these testing costs. And most definitely, we will not be able to contain the virus without testing those who are vulnerable. ONLY government can do this. Outside of the many donations received, the Department of Health was reported to have purchased over a million testing kits in the past months. It will be interesting to find out how DOH has distributed those.
Beyond testing, it is VERY expensive to undergo COVID-19 treatment. Reports say that patients’ bills in private hospitals range from P1.1 million to P3.1 million depending on the severity of the case. Included in the billing are laboratory tests, doctors’ professional fees, intubation, ventilator, confinement, emergency room use, etc. The personal protective equipment used by health practitioners are paid for by the patient.
From February 1 to April 14, PhilHealth covered in full COVID-19 expenses. But this is no longer the case.
Since April 15, PhilHealth has been using these new case rates: mild pneumonia P43, 997; moderate pneumonia P143,267; severe pneumonia P333,519; and critical pneumonia P786,384. If it takes millions of pesos for a COVID-19 case to be treated, poor patients’ families will surely have huge financial problems. How then are they going to cope especially for those cases when the only option available is to seek treatment from a private hospital?
Just thinking of the financial consequences of getting COVID-19 especially during this time of joblessness is enough for people to feel desperate. While it is true that the virus does not discriminate whether one is rich or poor, it is beyond obvious that the poor have less chances of getting tested for it, and getting treated when they have it.
On Monday, July 27, President Duterte will give his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA). Some say that he will “unveil” the country’s program against COVID-19 after four months of quarantine. For the people’s sake, I really hope that this is true and that such plan is truly responsive to people’s needs during this pandemic. Better late than never but it better be a good plan.
@bethangsioco on Twitter Elizabeth Angsioco on Facebook