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Instead of mass testing, Malacanang stated on Tuesday that targeted or responsible testing should be used to prevent the spread of Covid-19 while ensuring that government resources are not drained.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, the Acting Presidential Spokesperson, denied proposals for mass testing, emphasizing the necessity for the government to be “wise” in its spending for the country’s Covid-19 response.

“Responsible testing po yung ginagawa natin kasi (We are performing responsible testing because) we must be cognizant that the resources of the pamahalaan and the Philippines are not inexhaustible” (that the resources of government are not unlimited). And we have to be strategic about where we put our resources,” he added at a press conference at the White House.

Apart from testing, Nograles believes the government should prioritize the procurement and purchasing of vaccines that offer further protection against Covid-19.

“Kailangan natin bumili ng bakuna at napakita natin yung bakuna mas cost-effective.” (We need to acquire vaccines, and we’ve proved that vaccines are the most cost-effective.) The more people who are vaccinated, the more severe and critical instances of Covid can be avoided),” he stated.

He added that the government must also ensure that there are enough antiviral drugs to treat Covid-19 victims, that hospital beds are functioning, and that there is enough healthcare staff to care for the sick.

“Saan natin ilalagay ang pera ng taongbayan (Where we allocate public funds),” he continued. “Marami pong aspeto ang laban against Covid (The struggle against Covid has many elements), and we have to be extremely wise kung saan natin ilalagay ang pera ng taongbayan (Where we allocate public funds),” he added.

According to him, the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) currently offers free reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing to members who have Covid-19 symptoms.

“Testing is part of the PhilHealth package, and we’re also pressing PhilHealth again so that yung test ng home isolate ay kasama dapat sa PhilHealth coverage (to include free testing coverage for those under home isolation),” he explained.

Nograles reaffirmed his proposal for PhilHealth to incorporate free RT-PCR testing in its Covid-19 Home Isolation Benefit Packages (CHIBP).

For his part, Department of Health Undersecretary Leopoldo “Bong” Jumalon Vega endorsed Nograles, claiming that mass testing would be a waste of government resources.

“The policy of the Department of Health and RITM [Research Institute for Tropical Medicine] on testing is targeted testing naman talaga o responsible testing kasi kung magma-mass testing tayo, andaming mga negatives niyan.” Because if we perform mass testing, there will be so many negatives, sayang naman ang resources nga natin kung wala naman kayong exposure tsaka walang symptoms siguradong negative ‘yan. If a person has little exposure and no symptoms, it would be a waste of resources, and it would almost certainly be negative),” he said.

Vega added that tests are more accurate when performed within a few days of the onset of symptoms when the patient’s body contains the most virus.

“It’s really targeted testing, pati na sa antigen test natin na pinapayagan ng DOH,” she says. Even with antigen tests being permitted by the DOH, kailangan symptomatic kayo para mas accurate yung result mo kung positive ka, positive ka talaga at saka mataas ang specificity. Patients should be asymptomatic in order for the results to be more precise and specific),” he noted.

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