DoH shrugs off criticisms

Whatever comments we receive, we will continue to work in combating against this disease and in caring for the whole population

The Department of Health (DoH) said it will continue to work despite mounting criticisms over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the DoH will carry on with its initiative to implement its ‘whole of society approach’ in containing the spread of the coronavirus disease.

“We are doing a whole-of-nation, whole-of-society approach to this response that we have for COVID-19. Whatever comments we receive, we will continue to work in combating against this disease and in caring for the whole population,” she told reporters.

This came after a recent study by one of the world’s leading medical journals, the

Lancet, ranked the Philippines in 66th spot among the 91 countries based on the rate of the virus’ reproduction since August.

It stated that one of the factors behind the failure in response which countries including the Philippines have experienced was due to the ‘medical populism’ brought by governing political leaders.

They explicitly mentioned President Rodrigo Duterte along with United States President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to be included in this category.

We call on all nations to combat the rampant rumor-mongering and misinformation that abounds on COVID-19.

As explained, the term describes leaders as “simplifying the pandemic by downplaying its impacts or touting easy solutions or treatments, spectacularizing their responses to crisis, forging divisions between the ‘people’ and dangerous ‘others’, and making medical knowledge claims to support the above.”

The Lancet said that it has led to some measures as being politicized while others have been prone to breeding misinformation.

“We call on all nations to combat the rampant rumor-mongering and misinformation that abounds on COVID-19, and we call especially on leaders to desist in expressing personal viewpoints that are at odds with the scientific and public health experts of their nations,” they stated.

At present, the Philippines has reported over 291,000 cases of COVID-19, ranking 21st worldwide as shown in the data by Johns Hopkins University.

The US still tops the record at 6.8 million infected individuals with the global tally now reaching over 31 million.