CITY OF SAN FERNANDO President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. branded health researchers across the nation as heroes for heroic deeds, sacrifices, and risks that they take to keep millions of Filipinos alive during the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Your work to develop genome sequencing so that we could follow, identify, and detect the different strains that came about; and the test kits for the local community is very important. You cannot say you are not frontliners because you were not at the hospital. You were still at the forefront because the information, data, and research you put together was used in the frontlines,” Marcos said.
The president stressed this during the celebration of the 15th Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS) Week at Clark Freeport.
Marcos recognized the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development of Department of Science and Technology for its coordination and leadership to help ensure that the public can utilize the maximum economic and social benefits that stem from the rapid developments in science and medicine.
He cited that the unparalleled commitment of the health research community towards a healthier and safer future for the nation is laudable, especially in breaking barriers through scientific research, information exchange, and offering help for laboratory use to maximize efforts in responding to the pandemic.
Marcos stressed the importance of intellectual humility demonstrated by the health researchers to effectively navigate through the pandemic, honing their competencies, gaining new insights from fellow practitioners, and remaining open to new knowledge and ideas especially whenever groundbreaking data or new findings debunk usual beliefs.
“We are still at primary research when it comes to the pandemic. We must really be very wary of getting fixed and saying this is what it is because it evolves, it mutates. That is why the openness of mind, the continuing flow of information between all the different agencies have become crucial in our successes,” Marcos said.