To DOH on ebola virus spread – “be alarmist”

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MANILA — A House leader advised the Department of Health (DOH) yesterday to “be alarmist” in the light of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) threat.

Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello, chair of the Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs (OWWA) addressed DOH program manager Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy to be better prepared in handling the deadly EVD.

“If you need to be alarmist, be alarmist. It’s better to be alarmist than pay later on for having given us a nice reassurance in spite of a dangerous situation,” said Bello.

Suy is currently the head of Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases program of the DOH-National Center for Disease Prevention and Control (NCDPC). He also serves as the spokesperson of DOH.

Bello added, “It is best to be prepared. And preparedness means money. This is budget time and we are suggesting, if you need to improve your facilities in order to deal with the possible spread of Ebola in the country, give us a figure and we will support you.”

Is PH ready to face EVD?

During a chance interview with Suy, he mentioned that the infectious disease program of the government has a budget allocation of P50 million.

He added, “Wala pa naman talagang kaso, or nagkagulo na. Kaya gusto nilang padagdagan hindi dahil sa may kaso na or what, gusto lang nila mas prepared. We welcome their suggestion (There are still no cases or panic. The reason why the congressmen want to raise the budget is for us to be better prepared).”

When asked about the facilities, Suy mentioned that the country is capable of managing it.

“Ready is such a strong word. But then the way that we can answer this is that we’re in a better position to address this one. We have facilities where we can bring [the patients]. We have isolation rooms in different parts of the country. We have experts who can deal with the Ebola problem,” said Suy.

According to reports, there are about 5,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who are staying in EVD-plagued countries in West Africa.