Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 30) —The temporary reassignment of ‘Doctors to the Barrios’ to Cebu City will now be ‘voluntary’ after many of them ‘refused’ to be transferred, the Department of Health announced Tuesday.
The DOH said it came up with the decision after consulting the barrio doctors who are supposed to be deployed to Cebu City, whose number of COVID-19 cases continues to grow.
“Nung nakiusap tayo, marami iyong nag-refuse,” Health spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire told reporters in a forum.
[Translation: When we asked for their help, many of them refused.]
Earlier, the DOH ordered some rural physicians to be pulled out of their respective communities in Western Visayas and Central Visayas to respond to Cebu City’s ‘cry for help’ as COVID-19 overwhelms its healthcare system, a directive which they described as ‘exploitative.’
Prior to the announcement that the department had a dialogue with the concerned barrio physicians, Doctors to the Barrios batches 36 and 37 pointed out they were neither informed through writing nor consulted prior to the transfer order. The DOH also failed to provide clear protocols aimed at protecting them, they added.
Initially, 40 rural doctors were supposed to go to Cebu City in four batches, with each group staying in the locality for two weeks, according to the spokesperson. They would be ’supplements’ in outpatient units and triage areas in private and government hospitals, Vergeire noted.
But Vergeire said some of the doctors turned down their request, arguing that the communities they serve will be left without a doctor. Meanwhile, others have informed the DOH they are pregnant — which make them at risk of catching the novel coronavirus or SARS-CoV 2.
“Because of the turn of events, maraming issues pa ang lumabas, (many more issues have surfaced) so it was decided it is just going to be voluntary,” she added.
Vergeire said they are finalizing the number of doctors who are ‘ready to be deployed.’
To address the lack of physicians in Cebu City, she said they will also tap some healthcare personnel hired under their emergency hiring program, adding they are checking if hospitals in the country have ‘extra’ medical staff who could aid in city’s fight against COVID-19.
As of Monday, Cebu City recorded the most number of COVID-19 cases in Central Visayas, with 4,639. The region has a total of 7,255 infections.
The national government earlier pointed out that critical care capacity in the city is reaching “dangerous levels,” with some hospitals running out of beds for COVID-19 patients.
