DOH needs P11.7B in three months for hiring contact tracers —Vergeire

At least P11.7 billion is needed by the Department of Health for the hiring of additional contact tracers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire said Thursday.

Vergeire gave the estimate, saying the country needs to hire some 95,000 contact tracers to be able to reach the ideal ratio of one tracer in every 800 people as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

“Sa projection na 'yan, we would need over 120,000 contact tracers. We have existing 38,000, and we need 95,000 more. Nung na-compute natin ito, with the proposed qualifications ng contact tracers, mangangailangan tayo ng P11.7 billion in three months,” Vergeire said in a virtual DOH media forum.

“We will be coordinating with the Department of Interior and Local Government because they will be the one to handle this. Sila po ang magte-train, kaya pag-uusapan po namin iyan,” Vergeire pointed out.

Earlier, Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong called on local chief executives of areas with no COVID-19 cases to start forming contact-tracing teams.

On May 12, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said the country should hire workers displaced by the COVID-19 lockdown measures as contact tracers.

According to him, around 1.2 to 1.5 million temporarily lost their jobs due to the pandemic.

The Philippines has recorded 15,049 COVID-19 cases, thus far. Of this number, 3,506 recovered while 904 have died.

Last Wednesday, the Philippines also registered 380 new COVID-19 infections, the highest increase in the number of new cases recorded in a single day, since 414 new infections were announced on April 6. —LBG, GMA News