Duque on health workers' concerns: ‘I will present these to the IATF’

Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III on Saturday said he would put forward medical frontliners' suggestion that Metro Manila be once again placed under an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).

"We hear you," Duque said in a statement, as he vowed that the DOH was committed to doing more to “care for our carers” with detailed plans for support.

These include facilitating lodging, transportation, PPE, and food, and to pushing for more systematic reforms on compensation and benefits, including necessary network-based changes to healthcare practice.

He said the DOH will also work with the National Task Force (NTF) in effectively implementing localized lockdowns and ensure that comprehensive support is provided by the national government.

"We will revisit and include the inputs we have gathered in our overall gameplan. The DOH will develop this strategy in coordination with our government and non-government counterparts in the next 7 days," Duque said.

"Fellow health workers, please know that as the Secretary of Health, I hear your pleas---and I will present these to the IATF. We have noted in particular your call for a time-out for the NCR. We will bring it to the full attention of the IATF and present to them more comprehensive strategies to protect our ranks," Duque added.

Duque's statement came as President Rodrigo Duterte directed the Inter-Agency Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to act on the medical community's concerns "immediately."

“Your voices have been heard. We cannot afford to let down our modern heroes,” said Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque. “This is our commitment.”

The Palace’s latest statement is a change of heart from its earlier remark that “strict lockdown in Metro Manila has served its purpose.”  — DVM, GMA News