Party-list Rep. Michael “Mike” Defensor on Tuesday cited a forthcoming additional facility of the Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP) as a step in the right direction “to prevent future pandemics.”
Defense, who is currently running for Quezon City mayor, was referring to the projected National Center for Respiratory Infectious Diseases (NCRID) meant to be an adjunct of the LCP. The LCP held yesterday the groundbreaking rite for NCRID.
“There’s no question that the new center will further build up the LCP’s capacity to respond more aggressively to future pandemics,” Defensor said.
“The LCP was Quezon City’s main referral center for severely and critically ill patients at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic,” he noted.
Defensor mobilized donations of additional medical equipment and supplies for the LCP and other public as well as private hospitals in Quezon City soon after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic in March 2020.
If elected Quezon City mayor, Defensor said he envisions the city’s health department working closely with the LCP in combatting lung diseases, particularly tuberculosis (TB).
“We intend to suppress the sudden rise in TB cases following the disruption in the delivery of TB prevention, testing and treatment services due to the pandemic,” Defensor said.
A previous modelling study had warned that over 100,000 Filipinos may die of TB over the next five years on account of the pandemic-related interruptions in health services.
“We already have the highest TB incidence rate in Asia, with 554 cases for every 100,000 Filipinos,” Defensor pointed out.
He vowed to reinforce the community-based directly observed therapy strategy in controlling the TB incidents.
Under the scheme, barangay-based health workers would visit patients at home and watch them swallow their anti-TB medication so that they do not skip or miss their daily doses.