Photo by Macky Lim
Photo by Macky Lim

Duterte-Carpio says EO 53 not anti-poor

DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio defended the implementation of the City’s Executive Order 53 (EO 53), which requires incoming patients referred to hospitals in Davao City to secure a negative Covid-19 reverse transmission-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test result.

Duterte-Carpio said in a radio interview on Friday, October 9, that EO 53 is not an "anti-poor" policy and that it only aims to protect healthcare workers from unnecessary exposure to Covid-19.

"It's a pandemic, and it's intended to protect our health care facilities, our health care workers," the mayor said in a radio interview on Friday, October 9.

The EO was issued on September 25, after Davao City recorded cases of Covid-19 positive patients having medical check-ups for other illnesses in hospitals not assigned to receive Covid-19 cases.

The EO received several criticisms, mainly saying it burdens the patients even more with inconveniences and additional costs in getting admitted to hospitals.

Dr. Jack Estuart, medical director of Brokenshire Hospital from 1994 to 2010, said in a previous report that issuing the EO 53 is not needed since hospitals have their respective Covid-19 policies in place and are “evolving based on new understanding and the developing science and evidence.”

Duterte-Carpio clarified that EO 53 does not state that the RT-PCR testing cannot be done for free and is being done for free inside the Francisco Bangoy International Airport, also known as Davao International Airport.

The mayor ordered on July 22 the mandatory negative RT-PCR tests done within 72 hours for arriving air passengers. Those who have not secured testing upon arriving at the Davao airport are tested inside the airport, in which the cost is being shouldered by the Davao City Government even for non-Davao City residents.

"The argument nga anti-poor siya (that the EO is anti-poor) has no bearing because it was never said nga dili pwede nga libre ang RT-PCR testing (that the RT-PCR testing cannot be done for free)," she said.

The mayor said she cannot address the concerns of patients and watchers from outside Davao City, who will be referred to the Davao City hospital.

"Sa mga tao nga di nato ma-reach sa authority sa atong City Government of Davao, or sa atong mga laboratories because they are outside of Davao City, ilahang i-refer ang ilang concern sa testing didto sa laboratory nga assigned didto sa ilahang area," Duterte-Carpio said.

(But for those outside of the City Government of Davao or any of our laboratories here, they should refer their concern to the laboratories within their area.)

The mayor also clarified that the mandatory RT-PCR is not a requirement for outpatient department consultation appointments.

All Davao City hospitals are encouraged to make it a policy to request the results required by the EO for walk-in patients and their companions. However, she said they can "go above" the imposed requirement provided by the city order.

In a previous virtual presser, Department of Health-Davao Region Assistant Director Lenny Joy Rivera said the EO is for the benefit of the patients, their watchers and those working in the hospitals.

“Dapat pong malaman ng lahat ng tao na nag-iisip po tayo lahat, even our LCE (local chief executives) nag-iisip po para sa welfare ng ating mga pasyente, ng kanilang mga bantay at the same time ang welfare ng ating mga healthcare workers para makabigay po sila ng magandang serbisyo para sa ating mga pasyente," Rivera said.

(The people must know that we are all thinking, even our LCEs. They are thinking about the welfare of our patients, watchers and, at the same time, the welfare of our healthcare workers so that they can give good service to the patients.)

The health official said the EO is not anti-poor as it was crafted for everyone, a precautionary measure to protect people particularly those working in the hospitals.

Prior to the implementation, she said the City Government consulted DOH and conducted a series of meetings.

“Maganda po na aware and oriented ang mga hospitals on how will they go about with the implementation of Executive Order 53-A (It is better if the hospitals are aware and oriented on how they will go about with the implementation of Executive Order 53-A),” Rivera said.

Southern Philippines Medical Center SPMC officer-in-charge Ricardo Audan, in a recent interview, deemed the implementation of EO 53 as a way to decongest SPMC after the bed occupancies of the hospital for Covid-19 patients had already been exhausted.

Audan attributed the surge of Covid-19 patients to "uncoordinated referrals" from different areas outside the city.

Through the EO, he said hospitals from outside the city will now be coordinated with SPMC so that they would be aware of if the latter has enough bed occupancies.

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