AN OFFICIAL of the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) backed the move for the mandatory disclosure of personal information of patients positive for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) to expedite contact tracing in the city and protect the frontline health workers.
SPMC chief of clinics and Health Emergency Management Bureau (HEMB) coordinator Dr. Ricardo Audan told SunStar Davao yesterday the national government’s order will help fast-track the people whom the infected patients had close contact with.
“Well for me if they really want to help and stop or at least limit the spread of this virus then I am in favor of this mandatory public disclosure of personal information,” Audan said.
The Department of Health (DOH) -Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit-Davao admitted that contact tracing is one of their biggest challenges nowadays to combat the disease given the number of people involved.
On Sunday, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said in a virtual press conference that the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases has decided to adopt the mandatory public disclosure of personal information of Covid-19 patients to boost government’s contact tracing efforts.
“The IATF adopts the policy of mandatory public disclosure of personal information relating to positive COVID-19 cases to enhance the contact tracing efforts of the government,” Nograles said. "The DOH and the OCD (Office of Civil Defense) are directed to enter into a data-sharing agreement in accordance with Republic Act No. 10173 or the Data Privacy Act."
Disclosure of patient’s identities in a time of the health crisis has been a debated topic for it will violate the Data Privacy Act, which regulates the collection and release of personal data.
As of April 11, Davao City has now 74 patients confirmed to have been infected with the highly-infectious respiratory disease with 41 recoveries and 14 deaths.
Audan further said that with a growing number of cases, it also put their frontline health workers at risk of contracting the disease due to low transparency. It can be recalled that a doctor and nurse of SPMC have tested positive after attending a patient infected with the virus who did not disclose his condition.
Audan said we are dealing with a pandemic where frontliners are getting infected with some dying due to the dishonesty of some patients.
“Though I believe in data privacy let's weigh things that would be beneficial in the interest of public safety,” Audan said.
DOH Davao had coordinated with the SPMC on the move however, DOH has yet to issue the guidelines and protocols.
Audan said they already asked the consent of their patients to disclose their personal information to help in contact tracing. The patients so far have been cooperative.
“There is always on their mind the fear of anxiety, discrimination, and harassment. But we explain to them the importance especially if their loved ones are actually affected,” he said.
He added, “The fear of discrimination and harassment will always b there that’s why the public should be educated on the process of divulging one's identity because it’s too hard to do it especially when you’re at stake.”