Salceda files bill on P2.4-B supplemental budget for nCoV response

Albay Representative Joey Salceda has filed a measure seeking to appropriate a P2.4-billion supplemental budget to help the government address the risks of the novel coronavirus.

In House Bill 6177, Salceda said the proposed P2.4 billion supplemental budget will be used to "obtain surgical masks" for:

• Persons under investigation for 2019-nCoV infection (P945,000);
• Health Care Workers (P9,450,000);
• Personal Protective Equipment for Health Care Workers (P2,025,000,000); and
• Department of Health cost estimates for 40 repatriates (P4,522,000).

"The amount appropriated shall be released by the Department of Budget and Management to the DOH in accordance with budgeting, accounting and auditing laws, rules and regulations," the bill read.

"The DOH shall issue the guidelines necessary for the proper procurement of these items," it added.

House Committee on Health chair Angelina Tan has earlier expressed intent to file a measure providing about P1 billion supplemental budget to the DOH to bolster its efforts against the spread of the 2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease.

The DOH, she said, will use such amount to beef up the budget requirements for the department's offices at the frontline of addressing the disease.

These include the Disease and Prevention Control Bureau for logistics and commodities; the Epidemiology Bureau for surveillance; the Health Facility Development Bureau for health facility preparedness; the Health Emergency Management Bureau for quick response; the Bureau of Quarantine; the Health Promotion and Communications Service; and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.

As of Tuesday, the DOH said the number of PUIs in the Philippines for possible 2019 novel coronavirus infection has risen to 105.

Of this number, 90 have been admitted to hospitals, 12 have been discharged, one has died due to the virus, one has tested positive for 2019-nCoV, and one died while under investigation. —NB, GMA News