DOH’s COVID-19 data ‘errors’ spoil public confidence, good decision-making amid pandemic — senators

Several senators on Wednesday expressed concern over the "prevailing data issues" supposedly hounding the Department of Health's (DOH) COVID-19 tracker as the country continues to grapple with the virus.

This was after the UP COVID-19 Pandemic Response Team released Policy Note No. 6 which pointed out the "alarming patient-level inconsistencies, if not gross errors" in the DOH's database of cases.

It said "troubling anomalies" were observed in recent data drops released by the department.

"For example, 18 cases no longer have data on residence in the April 25 update. On the same date, the recovery dates of two cases were either missing or changed. One patient who reportedly died on April 24 is no longer dead the following day," the policy note read.

Senator Panfilo Lacson underscored that data accuracy is key to decision-making.

"This is an age-old tenet in management which is not only logical but simple enough. Whether inadvertently committed or otherwise, it is reason enough to make people responsible and accountable. What is abominable is if such act is committed deliberately in pursuit of some selfish reasons or interests," he said in a message to reporters.

"The COVID-19 pandemic involves people's lives and to a large extent their livelihood. There is no room for officials who, because of sheer incompetence or corrupt thinking, will endanger our lives that we practically entrust to them," he added.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian also stressed the same point on how data can affect policy direction amid the health crisis.

"Garbage in, garbage out. If DOH is feeding garbage data to decision makers, expect garbage decisions from government," Gatchalian said in a separate statement.

He added that manual data collection could lead to errors which may cost lives.

"DOH should use the Bayanihan Act to employ the best technology and talent to automate data collection, data processing and data analysis," he added.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon cited as examples South Korea and Taiwan which used government campaigns anchored on accurate data and credibility of implementors to combat COVID-19.

"Questions on the accuracy of the DOH data, and violations of the rules and abuses by law enforcers, erode the confidence of the people in the IATF (inter-agency task force) and its ability to contain the pandemic," he added.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, meanwhile, agreed that these errors "do not breed confidence."

He added that he is worried about the lack of testing and contact tracing capacities in areas where enhanced community quarantine has already been lifted.

Senator Leila De Lima likewise renewed the call for improved testing capacity.

"Mayo na po! Halos 0.1% pa lang ng ating populasyon ang na-test. Even though 149,640 individuals so far tested may sound a lot, it is still miniscule compared to the desired universe of individuals, sectors and areas that need to be tested," she said in a statement.

She also said it is not the time to hide figures as she mentioned that the number of DOH's confirmed cases, those who tested positive, and probable cases do not add up.

"It is as if there is an attempt to blow up the number of persons tested while keeping the official tally of COVID-19 cases low," she said.

"Paano natin mahihikayat ang kooperasyon ng ating mga kababayan kung mahirap sundan at paniwalaan ang datos na nanggagaling mismo sa ating gobyerno?" she added.

Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa, on the other hand, said that the DOH and UP should coordinate to make the necessary corrections on the database.

"I can not directly say there is negligence in data collection, handling, processing, or interpretation. We expect DOH and UP to be experts in their respective fields and they are both working under one government so they have to fix it ASAP," he said.

According to the UP COVID-19 Pandemic Response Team, the integrity of the database is crucial in making effective science-based decisions amid the health situation.

"These lapses may seem small relative to the total size of data contained in the daily updates, but they have significant implications on the reliability of our scientific analyses on COVID-19," it said.

GMA News Online reached out to the DOH for comment but has yet to receive any response as of posting time. — RSJ, GMA News