Stop baseless claims over Dengvaxia mess: DOH

FILE: Health Secretary Francisco Duque III (Photo by Ma. Teresa Montemayor/PNA)

MANILA — The Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday urged the public and government officials to stop spreading baseless allegations against the agency over the Dengvaxia controversy.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III made the remarks in response to allegations from the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) that the agency paid at least four families with PHP50,000 each in exchange for withdrawing their charges.

“This is malicious, baseless and a complete lie. Baseless statements like these cause serious damage to our reputation as the primary government entity mandated to protect the health of all Filipinos,” Duque said in a statement.

Duque added that the DOH is extending help to all Filipinos, regardless of their economic status, especially the poorest who come to the government for financial assistance.

However, he said these lies and defamatory allegations put the agency’s personnel in a bad light.

“I am deeply disappointed that our efforts to provide any form of help are twisted and taken negatively. Even our staff on the ground facilitating the support groups are being bullied and harassed at every instance. I strongly call on those with negative intentions to stop propagating baseless allegations and stop harassing our staff,” he said.

While stressing that he merely inherited the Dengvaxia problem, the Health chief said he immediately addressed the issue since assuming office in November 2017.

“I took immediate action to address this by stopping the dengue immunization program implementation.

We proactively set up priority lanes, hotlines, and support groups to understand people’s concerns. In an attempt to collaboratively resolve this issue, we also reached out to various government agencies including PAO. Unfortunately, my fellow public servants at PAO led by Atty. Persida Acosta refuse to cooperate and continue to attack and throw baseless claims and accusations at the Department of Health and myself,” he added.

Duque said such actions led to the decline in vaccine confidence and a rise in cases of measles and other vaccine preventable diseases.

“As public servants, we must work together in the service of the Filipino people.

We must collectively find solutions to the problems before us and not create divisions. We must always work around facts backed by reliable evidence,” he said.

On Monday, Malacañang urged PAO chief Persida Acosta to “substantiate” her bribery allegations against the DOH.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said that while the Palace will keep its hands off on Acosta’s claims, he asked her to file appropriate charges against DOH officials if she finds it necessary.