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Cases of Covid-19 in the Philippines are increasing again but President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. promised the public that the strict lockdowns that hit the livelihood of many poor and marginalized Filipinos are a thing of the past.
“Sa ating sitwasyon ng pangkalusugan, nariyan pa rin ang banta ng Covid-19. Lalo’t may mga nadidiskrubeng mga bagong variant ng coronavirus. Pero hindi na natin kakayanin ang isa pang lockdown (In our health situation, the threat of Covid-19 remains. New variants are being discovered. But we cannot suffer through one more lockdown),” Marcos said in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, July 25.
“Wala na tayong gagawing lockdown (There will be no more lockdowns),” Marcos said.
This is a departure from the prolonged lockdowns, which became Rodrigo Duterte’s default solution to curb the spread of the virus especially during the first two years of the pandemic. The poor and marginalized, who mostly rely on mobility to make a living, were hardest hit by the quarantines.
Marcos said the government needs to strike a balance between addressing the health and safety of citizens vis-a-vis economic needs.
“Dapat nating balansehin nang maayos ang kalusugan at kapakanan ng mga ating mga mamamayan sa isang banda at ang ekonomiya naman sa kabilang banda (We need to a delicate balance between our people’s health and the economy),” the president said.
The pandemic alert level system will remain. But its classification will be adapted to how the virus evolves over time, Marcos said. This will be implemented alongside measures to help ensure the capacity of the healthcare system, such as: the continued rollout of booster vaccines, monitoring of admission in health facilities, working with the private sector, dissemination of accurate information, building new health centers and hospitals as well as the the creation of a Center for Disease Control and Prevention and a vaccine institute.
Through these, Marcos hoped that the country would soon get used to the virus but it would no longer be seen as a serious life threat.
In an e-mail interview with PCIJ before the SONA, former Health Sec. Manuel Dayrit said that the pandemic has indeed exposed how the Philippine health system was ill-equipped to deal with it.
He said that the health system needs to be modernized from the bottom up, from the primary to tertiary level. Sustained investments have to be made over many years, while issues of human resources have to be addressed.
“Government has to inspire and mobilize partnerships with the private sector. Work has to move across various sectors, as all sectors have a role to keep people healthy.”
As of July 24, 2022, more than 3.7 million Filipinos were infected of Covid-19. More than 60,683 died, health data show.
The Department of Health has administered at least 156,466,108 doses of Covid-19 vaccines as of July 25. Assuming every person needs two doses to be considered fully vaccinated, the figure is enough to have vaccinated about 71% of the country’s population.
The National Capital Region and neighboring Calabarzon and Central Luzon, regions all in Luzon Island, continue to get a bigger share of the vaccine supply.
“But beyond the issues that the pandemic has brought, the need for a stronger healthcare system is self-evident,” Marcos said, noting that the government “must bring health/medical services to people and not wait for them to come to our hospitals and healthcare centers.”
Marcos said services from specialty hospitals like the Lung Center of the Philippines, Children’s Hospital, National Kidney and Transplant Institute and the Philippine Heart Center would need to be accessible across the country and not limited to city centers.
Marcos focused more on Covid-19 response in his SONA, but also pledged to improve the welfare of doctors, nurses and medical frontliners as well as ensure supply of affordable medicine.
Former Health Secretary Dayrit outlined four key areas that are considered usual targets for the health sector. These include:
- Improve access, quality, affordability of health services – innovative systems for access to medicines, diagnostics, consultations;
- Address malnutrition in children;
- Decrease maternal mortality rate; and
- Address adolescent pregnancy
When asked about the major challenges that this administration will need to address to implement policies and solutions, Dayrit said that “inefficient and ineffective government processes which work at cross-purposes” and “poor budget management – which result in high percentage of budget unspent” are among the hurdles. He also mentioned corruption as well as “a pervasive demoralization among health workers leading to high outmigration.”
As for priority bills that need to be passed for health reform, Dayrit says the “big buckets” include measures on (1) disease control and prevention programs, (2) self-care and health literacy, and (3) modernization of health services for better access, quality, customer satisfaction.
For Dayrit, better governance of the public sector is needed to improve services. Collaboration with the private sector is needed to spur modernization. Health literacy would also need to be increased.
“This means formal education as well as ongoing education and health promotion in society,” he said.
Marcos has yet to name a Department of Health chief. Currently, Health Undersecretary and spokesperson Ma. Rosario Vergeire has been designated as officer-in-charge.
Top photograph: Bernard Testa