Para kay Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque, may “ibang pang dahilan” kung bakit napagdesisyon ng Ehekutibo na kaltasan ang budget ng Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), ang pangunahing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing center, para sa 2022.
Naglabas ng pahayag si Roque matapos ang ulat na nagtamasa ng P170 million budget cut ang RITM sa 2022 appropriations sa kabila pa rin ng pandemya.
Sa kanyang press briefing nitong Lunes, Setyembre 6, naniniwala si Roque na kinaltasan ang budget ng RITM dahil hindi na lang ito ang tanging laboratoryo sa bansa na kayang makapag-detect ng coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
“Napakarami na po nating nagte-testing. We started with RITM as the lone testing but now… We are now doing 72,000 tests a day,” sabi ni Roque.
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“Pagdating natin sa testing, we are now relying, almost exclusively– not exclusively naman, but to a very large degree on the private consumer,” dagdag nito.
Naniniwala ang opisyal ng Palasyo na may “iba pang dahilan” sa likod ng desisyon ng opisina ng Pangulo.
“Ang number of laboratories natin is thousands already if I’m not mistaken. I’m sure there are other reasons behind this,”depensa ni Roque.
“I don’t personally know why pero kung testing ang pinag-uusapan, it’s because a huge chunk of our testing is now being undertaken by the private sector,”dagdag niya.
Base da datos ng Department of Health (DOH) website, mayroong 279 licensed COVID-19 testing laboratories ang bansa.
Samantala, nakikipag-usap umano ang gobyerno upang mapababa ang price ceiling ng reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests.
“Antayin lang po natin kung ano yung magiging price ceiling but I believe it will become a lower price ceiling,” sabi ni Roque.
Argyll Cyrus Geducos
