Go seeks upgrade of health units

Sen. Bong Go filed a bill seeking to further capacitate national and local health units to conduct better contact tracing, testing, diagnosis, treatment and surveillance of various diseases.

Go said the public health emergency caused by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted gaps in the healthcare system that need to be addressed and his bill is meant to strengthen the country’s efforts in disease surveillance and epidemiologic investigation.

Senate Bill 1528, filed last week, seeks to amend Republic Act 11332 or the “Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act.”

Go said the bill aims to enhance the country’s healthcare system in terms of disease surveillance and control, such as having better capabilities in conducting more testing and intensive contact tracing in times of pandemics.

“Over the course of this pandemic, we are learning a lot and we can see some aspects in our health system that need to be addressed. We saw the need to improve our disease surveillance and control capabilities to ensure the country’s readiness during health crises in the future,” Go said.

“In the long run, we will be able to improve our medical preparedness and response to future health crises,” he added.

To improve the surveillance of infectious diseases, health facilities, workplaces, schools, commercial establishments, as well as communities are mandated “to provide necessary information to authorized personnel of the DOH (Department of Health) and other authorized agencies… in disease surveillance including contact tracing.”

Based on the proposed law, the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will be required to help in contact tracing and other necessary investigations.