{"id":247712,"date":"2020-03-11T01:11:19","date_gmt":"2020-03-11T05:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=247712"},"modified":"2020-03-11T01:11:19","modified_gmt":"2020-03-11T05:11:19","slug":"doh-balancing-privacy-health-interest-in-covid-19-reporting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/03\/11\/doh-balancing-privacy-health-interest-in-covid-19-reporting\/","title":{"rendered":"DOH balancing privacy, health interest in Covid-19 reporting"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo made this remark following some lawmakers\u2019 criticism over the DOH\u2019s supposed \u201cunderreporting\u201d of information on patients who have tested positive for Covid-19. (File Photo<\/a>: Office of the Presidential Spokesperson\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The Department of Health (DOH) is trying to \u201cbalance\u201d the privacy of patients and public health interests in releasing information on confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the country, a Palace official said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo made this remark following some lawmakers\u2019 criticism over the DOH\u2019s supposed \u201cunderreporting\u201d of information on patients who have tested positive for Covid-19.<\/p>\n

Panelo disagreed with lawmakers, noting that the department could not be underreporting if it did not have the information available yet in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cHindi totoo yung<\/em>\u00a0criticism\u00a0na \u2018yun<\/em>. How can they report\u00a0kung di pa nila alam<\/em>\u00a0(That\u2019s not true. How can they report if they don\u2019t know the results yet)?\u201d he said, adding that contact tracing of suspected patients with Covid-19 \u201ctakes time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Panelo, also Chief Presidential Legal Counsel, said another factor why the DOH could not immediately release information is that it has to remain confidential under the Data Privacy Act (Republic Act 10173).<\/p>\n

He, however, said public health interests would be prioritized if \u201cthere is a dramatic increase in cases\u201d of Covid-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you will ask me as a lawyer, we can,\u00a0pero binabalanse nga nila<\/em>\u00a0(but they are still balancing it). I think they (DOH) will study that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Health Secretary Franciso Duque III said the reason behind the impression that the health department is underreporting the number of persons who have tested positive for the new Covid-19 in the country is due to \u201climited testing supplies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duque explained that the limited supply of testing kits has prompted the department to be \u201cprudent\u201d in conducting Covid-19 confirmatory tests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to rationalize our testing.\u00a0Yung mga tingin natin may sintomas at yung<\/em>\u00a0(those with symptoms and those with) history of travel, history of exposure para (so that) we will be prudent in the use of our very limited supplies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Duque, however, assured that the DOH would be able to expand the coverage of those who will be tested once the department acquires more testing kits.<\/p>\n

It will be disclosing hospital names after coordination with hospitals to combat unverified or fake news, he said.<\/p>\n

Duque also reassured the public that the country\u2019s hospitals have infection prevention and controlled practices in place.<\/p>\n

Currently, there are 24 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the country.<\/p>\n

President Rodrigo Duterte has issued a proclamation formally declaring a state of public health emergency throughout the Philippines after the health department reported the first known local transmission of Covid-19.<\/p>\n

The proclamation would also facilitate the implementation of mandatory reporting, intensify government response and measures, and enforce quarantine and disease control prevention measures.<\/p>\n

He also ordered the suspension of all schools in the National Capital Region from March 10 to 14 to ensure the safety of students from the disease.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 The Department of Health (DOH) is trying to \u201cbalance\u201d the privacy of patients and public health interests in releasing …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":187138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247712"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":247713,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247712\/revisions\/247713"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}