DOH hit for alleged failure to protect RITM health workers as 43 employees test positive for COVID-19

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Concerns on the Department of Health’s accountability were raised after the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine reported that more than 40 of its staff have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. 

RITM Director Celia Carlos announced on Monday night that 43 of its employees have acquired COVID-19, which resulted in the scaling down of their operations.  

“Hindi naman po sila severely ill. ‘Yung iba po mildly sick so naka quarantine lang po sila dito sa aming dormitory facility. ‘Yung iba po medyo serious ang symptoms, hindi naman po very serious, sa hospital sila naka admit,” Carlos said in an interview aired on CNN Philippines.  

She’s uncertain if the employees got infected within the RITM premises or the patients have acquired the disease from their respective communities.  

Tony Leachon, the special adviser of the government task force against COVID-19, previously posted an advisory that the RITM’s facilities would undergo decontamination procedures for the safety of its staff from April 18 to April 24.  

“To prevent delays in testing and releasing results, RITM shall be referring currently received specimens to activated subnational laboratories and COVID-19 partner laboratories,” the advisory said. 

Reports said that because of the reduced manpower, around 5,000 specimens are pending COVID-19 confirmation in RITM laboratories. The RITM also said it has already coordinated with different government agencies regarding its woes.

As of April 19, the DOH said that the country has a total of 17 licensed laboratories nationwide that are “capable of conducting Real-Time RT-PCR for COVID-19.” 

“DOH continues to strengthen the testing capabilities of different laboratories across the country,” the agency said.  

What DOH could have done

However, with the rising calls for a large-scale testing of suspected COVID-19 cases in the country, several Filipinos said that the health agency should have accredited more testing facilities.  

Lawyer Emil Marañon III described the DOH’s policy on centralized testing as a “disaster waiting to happen.” 

“DOH’s stubborn policy of over-centralizing testing to RITM is a disaster waiting to happen. One mass infection like this and the whole testing scheme crumbles,” he said on Twitter. 

“It cannot be overemphasized that DOH should have aggressively decentralized testings as early as it can be done,” he added.  

Twitter user @rupertnotholmes also said that DOH should be held accountable for failing to protect the front liners at RITM.  

“This one’s on DOH. For weeks, it sat on the application of 63 testing centers that could have saved more lives and protected their very own frontliners at RITM,” the user wrote.  

This was echoed by other online users who criticized the DOH for its supposed shortcomings on protecting the RITM employees and for allegedly letting them be overworked.

Horrible news!

1. This means that the RITM employees weren’t protected properly.

2. Results will now even be more delayed since DOH didn’t work on additional testing centres fast enough.

3. Baka bumaba the # of + cases bec of delays. Dr Sitdown will claim we’re successful. https://t.co/LsR8SIAxsV

— Ethel (@econcepcion) April 21, 2020

DOH should be held accountable for this. If only they set-up >10 labs accredited to test covid before the massive outbreak here in Ph (we had a month!), RITM staff won’t we overworked (w/c leads to low immune system -> covid infection). So disappointing what this govt has done.

— Airy May (@annieeexoxo143) April 20, 2020

The keyword “RITM” made it to the top trending list on local Twitter on Tuesday following the news on its COVID-19 positive employees.

The World Health Organization previously called on all countries to ramp up their testing programs to fight the pandemic. 

“All countries should be able to test all suspected cases, they cannot fight this pandemic blindfolded,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. 

The Philippines only began “progressive” COVID-19 detection of the new pathogen on April 14, which is nearly a month after the enhanced community quarantine was imposed, and prioritized high-risk patients  part of its recently expanded testing protocol.  

Long road of accreditation 

Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro previously bared DOH’s arduous process in granting licenses to testing centers after he made a bold move to open the city’s own facility sans the health agency’s approval. This move earned praises online for his fervor to help his constituents during the pandemic.   

However, Health Undersecretary and spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire defended the disapproval, noting that upon inspection, it has no equipment installed and laboratory technicians have yet to undergo training that time. 

The DOH earlier issued its five-step accreditation process, namely, self-assessment, self-validation, personal training, proficiency testing and full-scale implementation.  

This long process is to ensure the safety and quality of the detection procedures conducted in the licensed laboratories, according to its administrative order issued last April 7.  

“These guidelines are being issued to set the standards in licensing COVID-19 testing laboratories as a strategy to expand testing capacity, to have more capable laboratories, and at the same time ensuring that quality and safety are maintained,” the health department said.  

The RITM also released a short video clip on Facebook on the importance of making sure that a licensed laboratory follows the global standards set by the WHO.