Health groups want IATF revamp amid 'failed' pandemic response

Several health groups urged the government to replace all the officials of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) over their failure in COVID-19 response, after a year under their leadership.

In a press conference, the groups also called for the resignation of President Rodrigo Duterte and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III for their supposed incompetence.

Philippine Medical Students' Association’s Therese Gadaza said the repeated implementation of enhanced community quarantine this March and in August 2020 showed that the ECQ is ineffective.

According to Gadaza, the total lockdown under the ECQ hurt the economy of the country and caused financial problems to many Filipinos.

“The government's obsession about declaring ECQ despite its repeated failure is a proof that the Duterte administration is unfit to lead our country in this public health crisis,” she said.

Recently, the government placed Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal under the strictest quarantine classification from March 29 until April 4.

Health Alliance for Democracy chairperson Dr. Edelina dela Paz said re-imposing ECQ is unnecessary, pointing out that the government should look for other measures to successfully address the pandemic.

“The COVID-19 response of this government is a failure and therefore we have to look at other measures,” Dela Paz said.

Since February last year, she said, her group has been calling out the appointment of former military officials in the IATF, who she said were not knowledgeable in responding to pandemic.

Due to the leadership of these former military officials, she said the response to the COVID-19 health crisis in the country became more “militarist” than medically-oriented.

She also said that the Department of Health should have more preventive measures than hospital-oriented measures.

Dela Paz called for more mass testing, contact tracing, and isolation facilities.

Bantay Bakuna’s Jaime Dasmarinas said that the rollout of vaccination against COVID-19 in the country is slow based on the 60 to 70 million target recipients of the government by the end of 2021.

Since the start of the inoculation program on March 1, only over 700,000 healthcare workers and senior citizens have received the vaccines as of Tuesday, March 30.

According to Dasmarinas, around six to seven million recipients should be vaccinated every month to meet the herd immunity target by the end of the year.

“Doon pa lang nahuhuli na tayo”(With that, we’re already behind the target), she said.

She also pointed out the sluggish arrival of vaccine supply in the country.

The Filipino Nurses United, Alliance of Health Workers, and the Solidarity of Health Advocates and Health Personnel for a Unified Plan to Defeat COVID-19 (SHAPE UP) also joined the call.

Earlier, several senators called for an overhaul of the IATF officials by replacing its officials with public health and medical experts.

For the fifth straight day on Tuesday, the DOH reported over 9,000 daily new COVID-19 cases.

The total number of cases in the country is already at 741,181 with  124,680 active cases, the highest recorded this year. —LBG, GMA News