MANILA, Philippines—Free mass testing is being conducted in areas under granular lockdown, according to special adviser to the National Taskforce (NTF) against COVID-19 Dr. Ted Herbosa.
Herbosa on Monday (September 20) said that COVID-19 testing will be covered by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) if an individual is under the expanded targeted testing of the Department of Health (DOH). This include being in close contact with a COVID-19 patient and if the area is under granular lockdown.
The special advisor also clarified that individuals who just want to get tested would still have to pay the private laboratory and will not be covered by PhilHealth. He added that mass testing is best conducted during a granular lockdown due to the limited number of individuals to be tested.
“Kapag ginawa natin ang mass testing sa buong Metro Manila mauubos ang pera natin […] na hindi naman kailangang gawin ang tests na yun (If we conducted mass testing in Metro Manila, our budget will run out over tests we don’t need really need to do),” Herbosa said.
Meanwhile, concerning calls from local government units (LGUs) to procure their own vaccine supply, Herbosa said that vaccine manufacturers are no longer accepting orders for 2021.
“They only want to deal with the national governments, iyong mga pamahalaan ng mga bansa o estado na bibili ng milyong milyong dose (governments of countries or states that will buy vaccine doses by the millions). Kasi ang presyo na pinag-uusapan. Hindi sulit kung ibebenta sa maliit na kumpanya (What is being considered here is the price. It would not be profitable to sell to small companies),” he said.
Herbosa assured there is no vaccine supply problem in the country. He reported that vaccine supplies continue to arrive in the country but the problem is lack of manpower.
“Ang mga doctor at nurses sa vaccination sites, sila po ang mga doctors at nurse sa mga hospitals. Kapag napupuno ang hospitals, napu-pull out sila sa vaccination sites para tumao doon sa mga ospital na maraming COVID-19 cases, (The doctors and nurses in vaccination sites are also the doctors and nurses in hospitals. So when a hospital reaches full capacity, these doctors and nurses are pulled out from vaccination sites to man hospitals with high COVID-19 cases),” he said.
He also added that medical students will be allowed to assist in vaccination sites. AAC
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