The Philippines, battling against the rampaging pandemic, may now join over 100 nations in collaborative efforts organized by the Geneva-based World Health Organization to develop an effective cure for COVID-19, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said.
She said trials would be conducted in 20 hospitals nationwide, including at least 500 patients.
She said the Department of Health received a go signal from the Single Joint Research Ethics Board, the unit organized by the DOH to conduct a harmonized review of health-related research protocols, on April 17 to participate in the clinical trial for treatment of the novel coronavirus.
The clinical trial will test four different drugs or combinations—remdesivir, a combination of two drugs, lopinavir and ritonavir, the two drugs plus interferon beta, and chloroquine –and will compare their effectiveness to what is called standard of care, that is, the regular support hospitals treating COVID-19 patients use now.
Vergeire said the study was in line with WHO’s rapid global search for drugs that could treat the novel coronavirus that has infected more than 2.5 million globally.
The DOH will provide information by Saturday if the Philippines had completed the necessary documents to start the clinical trials.
P10-million presidential award
Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte offered P10-million reward to any Filipino who would discover a vaccine against SARS CoV-2 or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Senator Panfilo Lacson noted this offer would mean much more if the government invested more on research and development than the token annual average share of 0.4 percent from the General Appropriations Act.
“We only need to look at how much the most prosperous countries spend on R&D to see why we are among the laggards,” said Lacson.
“Even if we bump up the percentage to 1 or 2 percent of the national budget, it would make a major difference,” he added.
Plasma donations
Meanwhile, Philippine General Hospital spokesperson Dr. Jonas del Rosario renewed his appeal to COVID-19 survivors for plasma donations.
“Their antibodies may help save patients who are still battling the disease, especially the severe and critical cases,” said Del Rosario who noted that Filipinos continued to suffer and some eventually die from the coronavirus.
«There is no proven treatment yet for this although different medications and regimens are being investigated. And the vaccine against the novel coronavirus is not yet available. That is why we are calling for plasma donations from COVID-19 survivors,» he said.
Known as convalescent plasma therapy, the treatment is a century-old technique that has been tried and tested on numerous illnesses, most recently for diseases such as Ebola, Sars, Mers, and Swine Flu.
It involves the transfusion of plasma, the liquid component of blood, from a recovered patient to a sick patient.
Since beginning the experimental treatment recently, the PGH has received over 90 inquiries with more than 21 passing the criteria and at least 19 having already donated plasma.
At least 5 COVID-19 patients were able to receive transfusions.
Del Rosario said: “Right now, we are taking care of over 100 COVID-19 patients in the PGH, and some of those are severe and critical cases who have exhausted all other treatment options with no success.
“For them, plasma therapy could be the last resort. That’s why we’re looking for more donors.”
Central Luzon lab
A laboratory capable of running 3,000 to 5,000 COVID-19 tests daily that will be set up in Central Luzon is expected to be operational in May, the DOH.
The facility is expected to have a positive effect on the testing capacity of other laboratories in Metro Manila.
DOH officials said the department was collaborating with the private sector and other development partners to establish more “huge labs” nationwide, as added-on to 17 testing labs at the moment.
10,000 test kits
The DOH has committed to make available 10,000 test kits to check the health condition of the persons deprived of liberty after a prisoner was tested positive for COVID-19 at the National Bilibid Prison, an official of the Department of Justice said.
Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete said the DOH had committed an initial 10,000 test kits for PDLs at Correctional Institution for Women and NBP.
“The first batch of mass testing will be conducted at the Correctional Institution for Women and the NBP, where the cases for COVID-19 infection were registered,” Perete said, in text message to reporters.
Records showed that there are 29, 173 PDLs detained at the NBP while 3,422 prisoners are in CIW in Mandaluyong City.
Since one BuCor personnel and one CIW personnel have tested positive for COVID-19, Perete stressed they had asked the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to place augmentation personnel on standby to help maintain the peace and order in these penal facilities.
PPE shortage
A congressman on Thursday admitted the scarcity in medical items used by health care workers and other frontliners to protect themselves from contracting Covid-19 despite the months-long war the government has waged against the disease.
In response to this, Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte, the President’s son, donated two million face masks and 1,000 thermal scanners to the Davao provinces and barangays.
Each of the 182 barangays in Davao City will receive 2,000 face masks and two thermal guns.
Each of the provinces in the Davao Region (Davao Occidental, Davao del Sur, Davao Del Norte, Davao de Oro, and Davao Oriental) will receive 150,000 face masks and 90 thermal scanners, he said.
Unfair practice
This developed as Deputy Majority Leader and Bagong Henerasyon Party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera appealed to the DOH and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to stop what she called the unfair practice of some private hospitals charging their patients for donated PPEs used during their admission.
“We call on the DOH and IATF to punish private hospitals that are taking advantage of the current situation by charging patients to donate PPEs either provided by the government or donated by the private sector,” said Herrera.
Citing reports, Herrera said some hospitals charge at least P1,500 for each PPE.
Other hospitals even charge higher because there are PPEs worth between P3,000 and P4,000 per set, she added.
According to the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines, each COVID patient on critical condition could consume from 12 to 18 PPEs in a day.
1 year jail
In Pampanga, Gov. Dennis Pineda said anyone caught violating the COVID anti-discrimination ordinance would be meted out with one year imprisonment and P5,000 fine.
The newly enacted law prohibits any act of discrimination against COVID-19 positive patients, persons under investigation and persons under monitoring, health workers and frontliners.
Pineda said the law was anchored on principle of human rights, upholding human dignity, and that the right to health includes the right to have access to information and services free from violence, harassment and discrimination.
Bacoor lockdown
The City Government of Bacoor has ordered a Total Lockdown of Barangay Molino 3 starting April 24 to April 30.
Military troops and police were deployed Friday at the barangay.
The main components of the total lockdown include: 1.) All minor ingress and egress roads going in and out of Barangay Molino III shall be closed and barricaded by the Bacoor-PNP.
2.) No resident of Barangay Molino III may go out of the bounds of the barangay and no resident outside this barangay may enter the boundary checkpoints. Residents of Molino III who are exempted from this are persons allowed by IATF-MEID; OFWs and government employees who will check in at Bacoor’s community quarantine facility; and suspected and confirmed cases being transported to community isolation facility and referral hospitals. With Jess Malabanan and Benjamin Chavez