MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Magandang umaga, Malacañang Press Corps. Welcome sa ating press briefing ngayong araw, May 22.

In today’s sectoral meeting at Kalayaan Hall with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., the Department of Health presented the National Human Resources Master Plan 2020-2040. The proposed national workforce support system aims to address the gap in human resources for health. This is in keeping with the Philippines’ commitment to meeting the UN sustainable development goals.

In the discussion, President Marcos highlighted the importance of a few themes from the NHRMP, they are a focus on human resources and preventive healthcare, the BUCAS Centers or Bagong Urgent Care and Ambulatory Services, the corporatization of tertiary hospitals, investing in women’s health because women are marginalized and they are often the ones who take care of the whole family and this has a multiplier effect in our healthcare system, and the need to include the five gems of tourism in the hospital system beyond first aid.

And here to tell us more about this is DOH Secretary Teodoro J. Herbosa Jr. Good morning, Secretary Ted.

DOH SEC. HERBOSA: Good morning, Daphne, and good morning to the Malacañang Press Corps and to everyone.

Yes, indeed we talked about the reforms that the president wants implemented in our healthcare system. It focused really on… emphasis on primary care. We talked about how the idea of—we’re spending a lot of money on improving a lot of our specialty hospitals but a lot of the diseases that Filipinos die from are actually preventable if we have good primary care services at the local level.

So this was the gist of the presentation wherein we will focus on: Number one, health promotion and disease prevention; number two, acute care; and, number three, women’s health. So, these are going to be focused based on our presentation to him, the development of the Bagong Urgent Care and Ambulatory Services Centers – these are mid-level diagnostic and therapeutic centers which will give primary care, iyong first contact at the community level, those that are more than two hours away from a regional hospital.

This will be run by our doctors from our regional hospital and we started this project last January and we now have actually ten operational all over the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao – and we expect to open another eight in the next few months. We are targeting as much as 28 for this administration but I think we will exceed that because now, I have 79 proposals from different regional offices.

Attached to this is really a launch of mobile clinics, the DOH is procuring mobile clinics that will be used as a partner to go to the remote areas. And to complete the whole gamut from specialty center, regional hospital, BUCAS mobile clinic is the Purok Kalusugan Program – this is a program wherein we will revitalize primary healthcare in the community and going down below the level of the barangay at the purok level, so iyan ang mga napag-usapan namin.

Including all others, we will need the human resources, so we saw the gap. Prinesent ko sa presidente na we have about a 190,000 needed to actually fill-in the gaps of our health care system – that’s with the net flow ‘no, iyong mga nag-migrate at iyong mga nag-OFW plus iyong nagga-graduate from our schools.

May mga good news in the meeting. We had—the CHEd described that under this administration, there are now 20 state universities and colleges that are graduating medical students, so malaking improvement iyon from a previous of eight in the past administration; and then, we are also increasing our output of skills through TESDA; and then, we also talked about the five gems wherein healthcare is needed especially in our five gems, the five islands – Coron, El Nido, Siargao, Panglao and Boracay – so these are the ones that we need to concentrate on and we will improve the care not only of Filipinos but also of tourists that visit our five gems.

Kasi GIDA areas iyong mga island natin eh, they are really in remote areas actually. So, kapag may tourist na nagkasakit or na-injure, you can actually see na malayo sila doon sa health center, so we’re trying to remedy that with Secretary Frasco.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: GIDA is Geographically Disadvantaged.

DOH SEC. HERBOSA: Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas, so ito iyong mountainous and island provinces. Our gems are all island, they’re in the top ten island destination. But because they’re island destinations, to begin with, bago nadiskubre siya ng turista, walang healthcare talaga doon. So, we now need to improve those island destinations too.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay. Thank you, Sec. Ted. Questions? Racquel Bayan, Radyo Pilipinas.

RACQUEL BAYAN/RADYO PILIPINAS: Good afternoon, Sec. Nabanggit ninyo po kanina iyong 190,000 gaps na tina-try natin punan sa healthcare workers. Ano na po kayang update doon, sir, sa pag-hire natin ng healthcare associates po, iyong nursing graduates na hindi pa po nakakapasa ng board?

DOH SEC. HERBOSA: Okay. So, tuluy-tuloy na iyong programa na iyan ano because most of them have gotten scholarship through the private sector – iyong members ng PSAC, Private Sector Advisory Council for Health and may mga nakapasa na actually eh. So, may mga na-enroll na diyan, may nakapasa na and some of them, I think a 140 plus, they’re now hired as nurses kasi pasado na.

But, ang takers noong clinical care associate, mababa because it’s a Salary Grade 9. So, sa government mababa. Ang success niya is in the private hospitals, iyong mga underboard sa private hospitals na nagkukuha noong scholarships.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Allan Francisco, PTV-4.

ALLAN FRANCISCO/PTV4: Hi, sir. Itong human resources, sir, total nabanggit ninyo, sir, iyong suweldo o kumustahin ko lang, sir, iyong suweldo ng mga nurses natin, ng mga medical practitioners natin?

DOH SEC. HERBOSA: Okay. May misconceptions tayo sa suweldo ‘no, kasi mataas na ang government salary for nurses – it starts at Salary Grade 15. Salary Grade 15 is an equivalent of about 40 to 50 thousand a month and it goes up to Nurse II which is Salary Grade 16 and then 17 – pagdating mo sa 17, parang nasa 75,000 a month. That salary is not given in the private hospitals. The private hospitals give about half; some of the bigger private hospitals have started to increase, nearing 30 – 25/30 thousand but it’s still lower when you… So that’s the first migration from the private sector, lumilipat sila sa government items; from the government, lumilipat sila sa abroad; sa abroad, the higher salary and the lure of migrating your family to another country.

So, that’s another thing na napag-usapan namin and there are some solutions na nasabi ni Secretary Hans Cacdac na 74% of our health workers that leave are nurses. And ang bright spot is that they recently signed a memorandum of agreement with Austria wherein parang may scholarship na io-offer every time they take a Filipino nurse. So, we hope that this will be the model to help us stave off the migration.

The other thing we’re looking at is not all people leave because of money, that’s what I realized because iyong iba nag-nurse talaga kasi gusto nilang mag-nurse at mag-alaga ng tao. Some of them will stay and very soon i-announce namin na we’re actually allocating with DBM money to get health insurance. So may subsidy na ibibigay, maliit lang pero it will allow them to get health insurance for themselves and even their family. So may PhilHealth na sila, they can get pa health insurance.

The other one I’m doing is trying to provide the housing for our healthcare nurses because not everything is really salary. If we’re able to provide, so ang kausap ko dito is DHSUD (Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development) about developing a housing projects; and Pag-IBIG, if you’re a government nurse, makakautang ka sa Pag-IBIG and probably help a nurse.

And the third is we’re also looking at other benefits like education wherein they can have career paths to actually develop their career, have scholarships, have a masters in nursing and become higher in the rank and other benefits like even maybe a car plan. So the things are going to be given to them despite the fact that the salary is ano… kasi comparable naman eh – if you have a high salary, your cost of living is also high in the US. Akala mo malaki ang suweldo mo, pobre ka din doon kasi you have to buy a car, buy a house at iyong credit card mo mauubos – you’ll end up with a credit line. So, actually mas mabuti pa piliin mo Pilipinas, so that’s my program – I’m asking the nurses to choose the Philippines. Nabasa ninyo iyong tweet ko ha [laughs]. Para sa kanila iyon, sa health care workers.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay. Follow up? Go ahead, Allan.

ALLAN FRANCISCO/PTV4: Sir, some are proposing to have floating clinics in our island LGUs. Your reaction on that, sir?

DOH SEC. HERBOSA: Yeah, kasi na-announce ko iyong mobile clinics that will be launched soon. So we’ll have the first deliveries of these … iyong mobile clinic, may X-ray, may ultrasound, may hematology, chemistry and then may sariling generator. Paiikutin natin ito sa mga communities. And we procured about 83 of these, and these will be delivered in batches, siyempre ima-manufacture at ipu-put together pa.

And because of that, sabi ko kay President, we also need to build similar floating clinics for towns that are unreachable by land. Kasi marami tayong bayan sa Pilipinas na you can only reach them by boat. So we’re thinking that healthcare can be given to them through the boat clinics. So that’s the next step, ano pa lang, idea pa lang iyan. Although now, sea ambulances ang mga pinamimigay natin.

I also discovered that in Sultan Kudarat, mayroon pala silang floating clinic doon na nagawa through the local government. So bibisitahin ko iyon. In-invite ako ni Secretary Teng [Mangudadatu], kasi iyong anak niya yata ang governor ng Sultan Kudarat. So I’d like to look at that kasi may costing na sila. They have the costing, the models, so I’ll look at that and probably find out if that’s doable in the other island provinces as well.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Secretary, at the meeting today, you had some ideas for preventive health care. Maybe you can share some of those wonderful ideas here.

DOH SEC. HERBOSA: And I’m glad the president actually agreed with all of them because our top killers are actually heart attacks, strokes, diabetes. All of them are actually preventable. We end up with spending very expensive open-heart surgery or dialysis for diabetic, kidney patients, but actually they’re preventable if we have good diet. So sabi nga, TED, ‘di ba: Tamang pagkain – huwag kakain ng matatamis, maaalat at matataba; E – ehersisyo every day, 30 minutes; and D – Disiplina sa katawan. Disiplina sa katawan – huwag manigarilyo, huwag mag-vape, huwag mag-alak at huwag mag-drugs. So T-E-D, madaling tandaan; you can write that.

But the president agreed with the program on promotive health care. So you promote health care, because the president is also a health bum. Actually, he is healthier than me. I’m on … my body mass index is higher, so I’m at risk with those diseases I actually described. And I’m trying hard, don’t worry.

And then, there’s also the fact that we also can do prevention, so ito iyong mga vaccination, iyong other things that you can do for a measures for example, local chief executives can make sure there are bike lanes so people will move more; make sure may mga zumba diyan diyan or whatever. So these are things related to health that’s not directly health care but will impact on the health outcome of Filipinos. So the idea is longevity – being able to live longer na disease-free.

So iyon iyong mga napag-usapan namin. And then, of course, what we need is acute care because sabi ko sa kaniya, the second part really is making sure in Universal Health Care, kapag nagkasakit ka, may pupuntahan ka. Kapag sumasakit ang tiyan mo, nagtatae ka or may ubo, sipon ka, may pupuntahan kang malapit sa iyo na sabi niya nga, hindi iyong … because sometimes the difficulties are the … maglalaba sa bahay, magluluto pa raw at iniisip niya kung kanino iiwan iyong mga batang alaga. So sabi niya sometimes the challenges are logistical rather than the money part; and then, we have to think of that as well.

So that’s the third part of my agenda, and he loved it. Sabi ko, we take care of our women because out women take care of the health of the children, the health of the spouse, the health of the parents but nobody takes care of our women. The women take care of each other. So he loved that I was trying to emphasize women’s health from breast cancer treatment, HPV vaccination and all the things that women need. There’s someone that needs to take care of them. So iyon ang emphasis ko, they’ll be my multiplier. Imagine, if all Filipino women who are … who become very good nurses and in demand are taken care of, these mothers would be the ones who make sure tama ang kinakain ng children nila, hindi naglalasing iyong asawa nila, all these things. I will have a healthier population in the future because of this.

PIA GUTIERREZ/ABS-CBN: Hi, sir. Sir, if I can ask about COVID?

DOH SEC. HERBOSA: Yes.

PIA GUTIERREZ/ABS-CBN: Sir, can you confirm that more hospitals are reporting an increase in trend of COVID cases as what some are posting on social media?

DOH SEC. HERBOSA: Correct. Actually—well, there’s only one hospital, and that’s just circulating. That’s a private hospital. Ang statement nila, some of their health professionals have tested positive for COVID.

But if you look at our data, our Epidemiology Bureau, our utilization for hospitals is still very low for COVID-19. So hindi pa tayo tumataas. Although, I’m watching the events unfold in Singapore because I think in Singapore has reported an increase in FLiRT– not flirtations. But FLiRT, the new variant of variant under monitoring. It’s a variant under monitoring; hindi siya variant of concern, variant under monitoring siya.

And tumataas sila doon. They reported an increase in cases, and it’s filling up their hospitals. So we are watching ours. We still don’t have that number. We are asking our doctors and hospitals to report antigen testing. Ngayon, the testing is not PCR na eh, ‘di ba rapid antigen na. So we are asking our doctors to report that or to our Epidemiology Bureau.

The one we are monitoring really is ILA or influenza-like illnesses of which COVID-19 is one of those, right. So we monitor that. Luckily, even the one in Singapore is mostly respiratory tract infection – ubo, sipon, common colds. So I’m not thinking of border control, mandatory mask – I’m not thinking that. But I’m advising every Filipino, since that is happening, that can come here, iyong minimum public health standards. If you are sick, you have cough, colds, sore throat, better to stay home. If you need to go out, wear a mask. So it’s still personal. And then, there was a question to me about should we get vaccinated again because the Ministry of Health of Singapore was saying it might be waning effect of immunity. That should be a personal discussion between a physician and you, the one with a request for vaccination because I think the ones that need a vaccination are only the high-risk people. Remember, we have 78 million people that were vaccinated with boosters, so I think they still have some level of immunity. So no requirement for border control, no requirement for mandatory mask, no requirement for additional vaccination; but we are monitoring the cases.

PIA GUTIERREZ/ABS-CBN: Sir, is it possible na itong strain na ito or itong variant na ito is also present here in the Philippines? And could you tell us more about this?

DOH SEC. HERBOSA: Yeah, it’s possible. Although the variant isn’t serious, that’s why it’s only classified as a variant under monitoring. ‘Di ba minsan variant of concern, and then iyong talagang dini-declare nilang public health emergency of international… So it’s under a variant of monitoring. Mabilis siyang kumalat so they’re thinking nagwi-wane siguro ang immunity.

Sa Philippines, we don’t have enough samples kasi we need a number of samples to do the genetic testing. So ang report sa akin ng Epidemiology Bureau, we don’t have enough samples that can be used for genetic testing. Kapag dumami iyong cases, then we will ask our Philippine Genome Center to again look at what variant is spreading.

PIA GUTIERREZ/ABS-CBN: Last na lang, sir. Sir, how should the public take these new developments in COVID-19? You consider this concerning?

DOH SEC. HERBOSA: You know, I’ll explain to you: Coronavirus which is the cause of COVID-19 is actually the cause of our common colds. Nagkataon lang noong 2020, there was a variant that caused very severe illness, iyong COVID-19 pneumonia that caused the death of even health care workers, nurses, and elderly people. And overtime, what happened is we got immunization from the vaccines that were developed then. But the virus itself also mutated to a weaker strain. So if you notice, lately, even if people get COVID, magpa-positive sila pero three days, five days magaling na ulit sila. Especially for the young and healthy, there is nothing to fear – you just self-isolate; take vitamins, paracetamol and you should recover. At risk are the people who are elderly, with cancer, with immunocompromised, sila dapat iyong makita ng doctor nila. Mayroon tayong mga antivirals ‘di ba, iyong mulnopiravir and Paxlovid – those are things that can also be had for these cases.

And advice ko pa rin is wala pa tayong general policies like we did before kasi noon bago lang iyong COVID eh. But now, because it’s just one of them, one of the respiratory illnesses, my advice to the public is personal public …minimal public health precautions. So cough etiquette ‘di ba, avoiding crowded places, ventilation of rooms – the risk of getting it is going to be lower. Thank you.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay. Jinky Baticados, IBC.

JINKY BATICADOS/IBC-13: Sir, follow up ko lang iyong kay Pia. Sir, following all these reports po, do we have now scientific basis for travel restrictions to any country kasi hindi lang naman Singapore, may India rin – so, do we have now the scientific bases for the restrictions po or travel ban? At least para klaro lang sana, sir.

DOH SEC. HERBOSA: No. As I said border control; the Bureau of Quarantine is of course continuing to monitor this. Remember may declaration form ka when you enter the Philippines pero online iyan, iyong e-travel. ‘Di ba dini-declare mo iyon kung may symptoms ka, so binabantayan iyan ng ating Bureau of Quarantine which is under the Department of Health, so we will have that data kung marami tayong turistang pumapasok na may respiratory symptoms and fever. But I will not recommend any border control banning travel or whatever to Singapore or to India.

The caution is precaution mo – you must be vaccinated at least or if you are at risk probably I’ll advise don’t travel there muna while they are having increasing number of new cases, pero if you are healthy maybe a regular mask that you bring along to protect you will be good advice.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Jean Mangaluz, Inquirer.net.

JEAN MANGALUZ/INQUIRER.NET: Hi. Good afternoon, Secretary. Is the government mulling a lower deployment cap for nurses amid the 190,000 gap?

DOH SEC. HERBOSA: No. In fact, if you have a good product like a nice car or a nice TV that is being exported and is in demand, would you stop its production? No! I will just increase more and that’s where the direction we’re going.

Since our nurses are in demand, that means we’re producing good nurses – what does that mean? We also get good nurses when you get sick in the hospital because they’re export quality – so, that means to me I’ll just produce more nurses.

The idea is: The SUCs have started with the medical schools but we’re still trying to produce more SUCs with more nursing graduates – so, para mag-increase rin tayo ng nursing supply in the Philippines. So, I’ll increase the supply if the demand is high, not put a cap on it – so, that’s counterintuitive eh, ‘di ba. So, I’d rather produce more nurses.

Ang difficulty namin na pinag-usapan sa Cabinet meeting was dentistry, kasi as of now there are only two…noong nag-hearing kami last week—this week sa Senate Committee on Health iyan ang tinanong sa akin about dentistry because we lack dentists. We have one of the highest dental carers in the world and we lack our…there are only two government-owned dental schools, University of the Philippines and West Visayas State University, and the reason for that is it’s very expensive to put up a dental school because you’d have a dental chair per student and million iyon iyong dental equipment, iyong everything to dentistry.

So, most of our dental schools are private and most of our graduates actually work in the private sector. So, iyong ating poor ang pinuproblema namin is how to provide access for them to provide more dentists. So the idea is to increase the salary of our dentist, hopefully, and create more items. Pinapaaral ko na ito because we have a law, a republic act for the National Dental Health Service and we will try to revive dental items with the higher pay or create a public-private partnership with the Philippine Dental Association to help.

Hindi lang bunot but really all gamot of care from let’s say, fluoridation, ceiling, daily, yearly cleaning of…rather than have many dental missions that are just all bunutan, extraction – nauubos lang ang ngipin ng mga Pilipino then we have to spend for the prosthesis iyong pustiso ‘di ba, para makakain.

Dentition is closely related to nutrition. If you have a poor dental health, don’t expect to have good din ang health kasi hindi makakain eh – so, iyan isa sa mga mukhang dapat tutukan namin iyan kasi ang may government items lang na dentist ay armed Forces of the Philippines – mayroon silang Dental Corps; and some hospitals na kung minsan ay part time lang ang nakukuhang dentist kasi nga mababa iyong suweldo for dentist.

So, hindi lang Nurses ang kailangang itaas – there’s Dentist, MedTech, RadTech, PT – lahat iyan umaalis, nag-a-abroad.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Sam Medenilla.

SAM MEDENILLA/BUSINESS MIRROR: Good morning, sir.

DOH SEC. HERBOSA: Good afternoon.

SAM MEDENILLA: Kagaya doon, sir, doon sa nabanggit po iyong regarding sa deployment cap, so what is the proposal of DOH when it comes to that, at kailangan po bang i-retain, bawasan or dagdagan iyong deployment cap?

DOH SEC. HERBOSA: Ako, walang deployment cap. There is currently no deployment cap and we will not put a deployment cap – that’s free choice if you want to work. Now, our students that graduate from state universities and colleges, mayroon silang tinatawag na return service agreement – some of them like for example in UP, if you graduate from nursing in UP you have to pay and serve in the Philippines. You cannot leave until you payback the scholarship you got – iyan iyong gagawin namin – we will just impose a return service arrangement especially if you graduated from the state university; but if you graduated from a private nursing school – the moment you find a job anywhere else – in the US, the UK, Australia, or some other countries there is no cap; they are free to go, that’s their right.

SAM MEDENILLA/BUSINESS MIRROR: Sir, i-clarify lang po namin, iyong POEA previously may in-implement na 7,500 annual deployment cap – is that cap already removed?

DOH SEC. HERBOSA: Matagal nang ni-lift iyon. That was only during the COVID.

SAM MEDENILLA/BUSINESS MIRROR: Ah, lifted na.

DOH SEC. HERBOSA: Lifted na iyan. Because remember when there was COVID they put a cap on that. Nagalit nga iyong mga nurse na may kontrata na eh kasi hindi sila nakaalis. So, I remember spokesperson pa ako ng COVID Task Force. So, ang nangyari doon ni-lift na rin; noong lumuwag na, ni-lift na rin eventually ni President Duterte.

So right now ay wala tayong existing deployment cap; nurses, if they get hired, they can resign from their job and go abroad.

SAM MEDENILLA/BUSINESS MIRROR: Sir, last question na lang po. Regarding po doon sa 190,000 na nabanggit po nila na kakulangan sa medical workers ng government – may timeline po ba tayo kung kailangan dapat ma-fill up iyong positions?

DOH SEC. HERBOSA: So, this is not only government, this is the whole health system including private sector. So, ang estimate namin, kasi may mga estimates iyan – iyong number of doctors per population, number of nurses per population. Like our doctors, one is to 25,000 sa Pilipinas – kulang na kulang. Ang ideal is one per 10,000 – so, kailangan triplehin ko ang numero ng doktor sa Pilipinas para hindi sila nakapila; ang nurses may ganoong number din; midwife, may ganoong number.

And based on that iyon iyong nakita namin that in the Philippines with our current population, we need over 500,000 but we only have 300 plus thousand currently registered with our PRC. So kulang pa rin tayo, so we need to produce more.

Basically, ang ginagawa ko kasi I’m expanding the healthcare system with investments by the national government and the help of the president we’re doing all these mobile clinics, BUCAS Centers, Purok Kalusugan – these will require manpower.

So, ito iyong gist noong aming meeting sa Cabinet na I’m asking help of the rest of the Cabinet members – nandoon iyong PRC, nandudoon iyong TESDA, nandudoon iyong CHED. So, some of our solutions are using digital help – so, we may have less manpower but now I can apply extension like telemedicine, like what we did during COVID so that doctor can be in the regional hospital but they can see patients at home through phone – so that’s one other way – telemedicine.

The other one is iyong TESDA – may program silang NC I, NC II which are skills based. Bago ako makakuha ng RadTech na licensed by PRC, iyong mga devices ngayon kung minsan very automated na – kailangan mo lang i-on, alam mo i-plug at alam mo i-on iyong device – the machine will do everything, even laboratory. So, kung Med-Tech pa hihintayin ko, napakamahal noon to ask a laboratory [technician], whereas devices now parang cellphone lang – isang click mo lang it can operate – so, we need technicians. So, ang thinking ko, we will need technicians to multiply our capacity. So, iyong technician na iyon na may NC I, basic; NC II, advanced skills – we’re hoping magkaroon ng program na i-allow silang mag-college sa SUC, and then get their RadTech degree, get their MedTech degree or PT degree eventually – so, parang ganoon iyong extension natin.

Similar to the nursing coordinator ‘di ba, iyong skills muna and then pang-expand na natin. So, si Secretary Teng Mangudadatu may program siya for barangay health workers na may mga TESDA sa barangay to help them with skills that will help us in the health sector augment the deficit ng mga licensed health worker – matagal kasi kung licensed eh. Tinanong mo ako sa timeframe – ga-graduate ka ng four-year degree; magbu-board exam ka at saka ka pa lang magtatrabaho sa gobyerno – ang tagal noon ‘di ba? So, iyon ang problema talaga and hindi lahat ng pumapasa sa college ay nakakapasa sa board exam – so, nag-a-attrition pa iyon.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay. Maricel Halili, TV 5.

HALILI/TV 5: Sir, magandang hapon po. Sir, going back lang doon sa COVID-19. Did you discuss this with the President earlier? What did the President tell you about COVID-19?

DOH SEC. HERBOSA: Unfortunately, we didn’t. It wasn’t discussed. He didn’t ask about the COVID situation. Our press release is from our observation, so I had a press release done yesterday pa regarding the COVID situation and that notice by one of the private hospitals about COVID cases.

So we are monitoring it, that’s our job. The epidemiology bureau is the disease surveillance bureau of the country, so we’ll monitor it and we will give you updates kung talagang may uptick. But in the meantime, the advice from the health secretary is minimum public health standards – the same things we do what we have been doing.

HALILI/TV 5: And you mentioned earlier that this FLiRT is not that serious. But how does it differ from other variants like iyong sa Delta, gaano kabilis siyang makahawa, ilan usually iyong nahahawa niya kapag na-expose?

DOH SEC. HERBOSA: So, apparently, mabilis siyang makahawa because of the outbreak in Singapore. So it’s contagious, but it’s not virulent; it doesn’t kill, kasi wala pa silang reported deaths, right. So, iyon ang binabantayan natin, behavior; the behavior of this new variant. That is why it’s a variant under monitoring, we are monitoring it and we look at it, maybe it’s nothing to worry about or maybe it will just die down from the activities there in Singapore, I don’t know, iba ang conditions doon eh. But we also monitor here kung may mga cases dito.

HALILI/TV 5: Sir, you mentioned earlier about the lack of dentist, iyong shortage natin. Do we have figures gaano po kadami iyong gap natin sa dentist in the country?

DOH SEC. HERBOSA: I don’t have the figures really ‘no, but alam ko talagang kulang. Number the dental positions in government hospitals and Rural Health Units kulang talaga ng dentist. So some would buy dental chairs, dental equipment pero walang dentist na nagwo-work. So, we asked the private sector to help out. Eh, private sector naman, volunteerism lang. So, we will compute it. I think that is a good question. And like what I did for the nurses and the doctors, we will compute what the necessary demand. Our difficulty there is really putting up more dental schools, kasi mas mahal. That is why dadalawa lang iyong may dental school na government. The investment is so much higher kasi students need a dental chair with all the dental equipment, iyon ang expensive.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay, questions from Ivan Mayrina and then Tuesday Niu.

MAYRINA/GMA 7: Good afternoon, Secretary. Para sa publiko po, kung sakali po makaramdam sila ng flu-like symptoms halimbawa. Do you encourage them to get tested or does it even matter if it’s COVID, if it’s pertussis or the seasonal flu?

DOH SEC. HERBOSA: Hindi ako magri-recommend siguro, but it would be nice to have the testing if they have access to testing – that is recommended. Of course, you would know what you are sick of, if you do the testing. But if you follow the precautions of self-isolation, wearing a mask if you need to go out, you will also prevent its spread, so that’s all we need; and then hydrate, take paracetamol for your symptoms and consult a physician. I think my advice would be if your respiratory symptoms are not clearing up in five days, time to consult with a physician.

MAYRINA/GMA 7: Hi, sir. Sir, nabanggit po ninyo kanina, “maybe nothing to worry about”, but given this data na you have, iyong circumstances at saka iyong sinasabi na increasing na iyong COVID cases as of yet dito sa Pilipinas. Iyong ating health care facilities po ba, may pangangailangan na paghandain na rin sila for possible surge ng cases ulit?

DOH SEC. HERBOSA: Maganda iyong tanong niya, kasi tinatakot niya iyong tao sa COVID. Tatakutin kita kung ano ang dapat mong katakutan. Mga taong Pilipino ay namamatay sa heart attack and stroke, cancer, diabetes – Iyan ang isulat ninyo because that’s what I want people to learn about. I want them to learn how to prevent getting a heart attack, how to prevent getting a stroke, how to control their hypertension, how to control their diabetes or not get diabetes. I think that is what is more important. Iyong top ten killers natin, iyon ang dapat sinusulat natin for health literacy because all of these are preventable; iyong COVID, ubo at sipon lang iyon.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay, this concludes our press briefing. Thank you so much, Secretary Ted Herbosa and thank you, Malacañang Press Corps. Please take care everyone, good afternoon.

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