1. Health workers are exhausted and they sorely need a break. 2. The proposed solution is to revert back to ECQ (or impose more stringent restrictions on movement).
Both are important but should be addressed separately. 1/
HWs are tired. Their patient load continues to increase but their own numbers are decreasing. Many are getting sick themselves.
Their morale is low because gov't has let them down. They can't get the protection and benefits they deserve.
They need time to rest, to breathe. 2/
The complaints of HWs are real and valid.
Those working in hospitals are our last lines of defense. When they speak, we should take notice.
That they are appealing now conveys a sense of urgency. Let us not wait until they are desperate, angry, or absent, before we act. 3/
Is the reinstitution of more stringent restrictions by re-imposing ECQ the way to go?
Perhaps not.
For one, the problem of patient overload is not really addressed. COVID-19 patients needing special/critical care will still come.
Non-COVID patients will have a hard time too.4/
Also, with the Du30 govt, attendant conditions to make the ECQ more relevant than before will probably not happen.
The same people at the helm will just do the same nothing.
Worse, an ECQ will feed the "pasaway" narrative and the militarist, punitive governance we have now. 5/
Maybe other options to an ECQ can be considered:
1. Active, aggressive recruitment of additional HWs NOW!
Offer better terms and working conditions, a much better package to attract HWs. Assure better support and protection to address their fears.
Seek HWs aggressively. 6/
2. Further improve the vetting and triaging of patients from the communities and LGUs.
To further decrease the number of patients winding up in the hospitals, efforts in the communities can be strengthened and streamlined even more.
Sadly the HWs there are also overburdened. 7/
Lastly, any remedy must include the immediate replacement of the DOH secretary and the DOH and IATF leadership.
No solution, short- and long-term, will be meaningful if efforts are placed under the same people who got us in this sh*thole in the first place. 8/8
The current debate is about having an HONEST AND CRITICAL APPRAISAL of what went wrong with the PH pandemic response.
Sadly, the discourse is hampered not only by the refusal to admit that there IS SOMETHING WRONG, but also by the vociferous defense of it!
2/
The patent refusal to admit such shortcomings is worsened by the attitude of IATF advisers, particularly doctors, who not only ignored valid concerns and criticisms but actually BELITTLED those who raised them!
I cannot accept that a decade of studying all boils down to a single exam. Who would NOT BE STRESSED by that?!
At best, the PLE only measures a fraction of how much we learned or know.
But the process is as outdated as the questions are random.
1/
I mean, 100 questions covering an entire subject you took five years prior IS NOT an adequate measure of how much we know.
Worse, the questions do not always reflect the fundamentals required of each subject.
TBH, a great deal of testmanship is needed.
So how is this FAIR?
2/
The PLE does not even take into account changes in med educ!
Some years ago, when some med schools decided to change to problem- or organ-system based educ, they erroneously still used the PLE as a measure of success.
Nung dumami yung bumagsak, binalik sa dati yung system.
3/
If you just bothered to find out before dishing out your response, you would have known that cases such as this actually happens quite frequently.
While PhilHealth has different case rates for different severities of COVID-19, these depend on WHERE the patient is confined. 2/
Since the patient was confined in a primary hospital (level 1), the hospital cannot reimburse for specialized care, which are mainly reserved for tertiary hospitals (level 3).
Kaya hindi ma-cover ng PhilHealth yung malaking bahagi ng bill nung pasyente. 3/
Mahalaga na maalala natin ang mga basic details ng Philippine Pandemic Response para mabalikan at masuri natin BAKIT at PAANO tayo umabot sa ganitong KAWAWANG kalagayan.
Eto ang isng short QUIZ to refresh our memory.
Ilan ang makukuha ninyo na TAMA?
1. Sino ang pangunahing namumuno sa COVID-19 Pandemic Response sa bansa?
a) IATF
b) NTF-ELCAC
c) OCTA
d) Hindi pa rin alam hanggang ngayon pero malamang hindi si Duque
2. Kelan itinakdang matatapos ang quarantine sa Pilipinas?
a) Pag alam na ng IATF yung dapat gawin
b) Pag naging humble na yung mga experts
c) Pag doktor na ulit si Duque
d) Pag naliligo na araw-araw lahat ng mga work from home
Health officials should stop hiding behind the law to impose its unjustifiable increased contribution rates.
PhilHealth is allegedly forced to require higher payments from members as this is a provision of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Law.
Totoo ba ito? NO.
1/
True, increased PhilHealth rates are part of the UHC Law. In fact, it is one of the controversial provisions that oppositors wanted to remove or change.
But even if the increased rates are part of the law, is govt really forced to implement it? NO.
Are there precedents? YES.
2/
The Magna Carta of Public Health Workers (1992) states the benefits that govt healthcare workers are entitled to.
But to date, these benefits are not all given to HCWs in govt hospitals. Govt refuses to provide funds for these benefits.