Salvana declines to comment on whether he is the next DOH secretary

Edsel Salvana, an infectious disease specialist, on Monday declined to comment on his possible appointment as the next health secretary.

Salvana, a member of the Department of Health-Technical Advisory Group, was asked if he had been invited by the camp of presumptive President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to be part of his cabinet.

“May naririnig din po akong ganyan. Siguro sa ngayon, no comment na lang po muna ako. Let's go through the official channels kung meron man,” Salvana said at the Laging Handa briefing.

(I also heard about that. I would say no comment for now. Let’s go through the official channels if there are any.)

“Siguro kung mayroon man mga ganyang bagay, siguro hintayin na lang po muna natin kung may announcements from the proper authorities,” he later added.

(If there are such matters, maybe we should wait for the announcement from the proper authorities.)

The health expert said that, for the time being, he was focused on the country’s COVID-19 prevention and control effort.

“The last thing that we need right now is to umakyat na naman yung levels ng COVID sa atin. So sa ngayon nakatutok po ako dyan,” he said.

(The last thing that we need right now is for the levels of COVID to increase. So we are monitoring this closely.) — DVM, GMA News