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DOH delivered inspected, good quality face shields to medical workers –Vergeire
By HANA BORDEY,GMA News The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday assured the public that the face shields distributed among health workers were inspected and were in good condition.
Health Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire made the assurance after it was revealed in a Senate inquiry that “substandard” face shields are being delivered to the DOH.
“As fas as DOH is concerned, whatever we were able to deliver to all of our healthcare workers ay maayos po (are all in good condition),” Vergeire said during the Laging Handa briefing Saturday.
“Hindi rin ho kami tumatanggap talaga ng may mga sira o ‘di kaya may mga ganiyang klaseng discoloration or nasira na ang mga foam, hindi po namin ‘yan tinatanggap. We do inspections,” she added.
(We do not accept face shields that are defective or face shields that have discolorations.)
Vergeire confirmed that even face shields have a shelf life and some of their parts can deteriorate over time.
“Just like any other medical commodity, mayroon din namang tinatawag na (it has what we call) shelf life. Shelf life po ang tawag. Itong mga face shields na binibili namin (The face shields that we procure), this is not for the community. This is medical grade and this is used by our medical workers,” she explained.
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Vergeire said medical-grade face shields have foam on the side of the forehead.
“Over time napu-pulverize po iyan e. Nadudurog at ‘yung iba ay nagdi-discolor din po ‘yan... That, we need to assess or determine kung puwede pa siya kung nai-deliver po sa atin,” she added.
(Over time, the foam on the face shield is pulverized or there is discoloring. That, we need to assess or determine if it can still be used or if these were delivered to us.)
On Friday, an employee of Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation, who asked not to be identified for security reasons, disclosed that he and his co-workers were tasked to tamper with the certificates of the face shields.
He also revealed that the face shields were repacked even if some of the items were crumpled and were no longer in good shape.
Pharmally official Krizle Grace Mago admitted that she ordered the tampering of the face shield certificates.
She said she was just following orders from the management, particularly from Pharmally corporate treasurer and secretary Mohit Dargani. — DVM, GMA News