Zubiri urges use of COVID-19 drugs yet to be approved by DOH, WHO

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri on Saturday urged the Department of Health and private hospitals to use drugs that were allegedly effective against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) but were neither approved by the World Health Organization nor by the DOH.

"We now have one of the highest death rates of COVID-19 cases in the region at almost 10%... try the drugs already in use by Thailand, Korea, and India where it seems to be working and they have lessened their death rates," Zubiri said in a Facebook post.

Zubiri added that patients needed to be given the option to have these drugs, none of which the senator identified, used on them.

"If we wait, more people will die here in the country. We should allow the patients to sign a waiver to try these drugs, please. It should be an option they can take," he said.

The DOH has previously said that new drugs that aim to counter the virus would not be used in the Philippines without first undergoing the country's regulatory processes and passing the WHO's evaluations.

"As a senator who is part of the legislative body of government and not the executive which handles the DOH, we have no power over government hospitals nor personnel," said Zubiri. "The fact has not changed that we still have the highest death rate in the region and the lowest recovery rate as well. Can we try something new?"

On Saturday, the death toll from COVID-19 rose to 8 after health authorities confirmed two new deaths. 

There were 64 confirmed cases in the country. 

Zubiri was among senators who self-quarantined after being exposed to a confirmed COVID-19 case during a senate hearing. — Joahna Lei Casilao/DVM, GMA News