Dizon pumiyok, kulang ang ginagawang COVID-19 testing ng bansa

PUMIYOK si National Task Force Deputy Chief Implementer at Testing Czar Vince Dizon na kulang ang ginagawang COVID-19 testing ng bansa.

Ani Dizon, bagama’t ang peak single-day COVID-19 testing ay 80,000, na mayroong daily average na 70,000, ay masasabing hindi pa rin ito sapat.

“To the question is it enough? I don’t think it’s enough to be honest. But what we have to understand is we always follow the advice of our experts that we cannot just test shotgun. Meaning, we’ll just test without basis,” ayon kay Dizon.

“It needs to be risk-based, it needs to be based on the guidelines that have been approved by our experts and by the Department of Health,”dagdag na pahayag nito.

Aniya pa, magpapatuloy ang bansa sa “risk-based approach” nito sa pag-detect ng COVID-19 cases, na ang puntirya ay i-test ang mga symptomatic, close contacts sa COVID-19 positive individuals, close contacts ng symptomatic, at mga taong nakatira sa lugar kung saan kinukunsidera bilang high risk.

“The reason is not just based in science, but this is a practical issue. It’s very easy to say let’s test 150,000 a day. However, at the current price of each RT-PCR, with the lowest probably P2,000, if we will test, for example, 10 percent of our population daily, then we would need to test 10 million Filipinos daily. P2,000 times 10 million, that’s P20 billion per day,” ang pahayag ni Dizon.

“At this rate already, we are already spending P160 million a day from the pockets of our citizens who are paying for the tests and from PhilHealth. Napakalaking pondo po nito,” anito pa rin.

Para kay Dizon, nakababahala ang ganitong situwasyon lalo pa’t wala ng sapat na pera ang pamahalaan para ipagpatuloy ang mas maraming pang covid-19 test araw-araw.

“Maybe we should also consider practical and on-ground implications. Every time we need to test, contact trace, isolate, vaccinate, we’re spending money,” ayon kay Dizon. (Daris Jose)