DOH looking for funds for procurement of add'l lab supplies needed to detect new coronavirus variant

Funding issues are slowing the country's procurement of additional laboratory supplies and reagents needed to detect new variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the Department of Health (DOH) said Friday.

In a virtual briefing, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said funding for these supplies was not included in the DOH's P203-billion budget for 2021 because the new coronavirus variant was not present in the country when the agency made the budget proposal in 2020.

“Hindi pa kami nakaka-order, although nakausap ng PGC (Philippine Genome Center) ang supplier and they are very much ready to provide us with supplies. Inaayos lang iyong financing,” Vergeire said.

“Medyo malaki kasi iyon,” she added, referring to the amount needed.

Vergeire had earlier said the Philippine Genome Center’s genome sequencing efforts will have to be boosted by state-run University of the Philippines National Institute of Health and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine to speed up the turnover of the results. She said these agencies will need a combined amount of P362 million.

“Hinahanapan lang natin ng budget na kailangan para tayo ay maka-order. Definitely, the government will procure these supplies. Humahanap lang ng appropriate source of fund para rito,” Vergeire said.

The UK variant of coronavirus, which the DPJ said was more transmissible but not more severe, has infected 17 COVID-19 patients in the Philippines so far, including the index case from Quezon City.

Of the 17 infected, 12 are in Bontoc, Mountain Province. At least 89 close contacts of the 12 have tested positive for COVID-19.

The PGC is still processing 48 specimens to determine if these individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 are also infected with the UK variant of the coronavirus.

Vergeire earlier said that it is possible that a person can test for one or more variants of the coronavirus at the same time, and that the PGC is capable of detecting multiple variants infecting a person. —KBK, GMA News