Senator Richard J. Gordon called on the government to conduct a massive Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing for healthcare workers, both in public and private hospitals and other healthcare institutions.
“We need to protect our healthcare workers and make sure that they are healthy and virus-free while they take care of our people. Ang mga frontliners natin, iyong mga humaharap sa pasyente, dapat ma-test sila. Hangga’t sila ay hindi nate-test at lagi silang exposed sa mga pasyente, delikado iyan kaya dapat gawin nating mandatory ang pagpapa-test sa kanila,” he said.
According to the data of the Department of Health (DOH), only 2,700 of the 25,000 public healthcare workers in the National Capital Region (NCR) were tested so far.
During the plenary debate for Senate Bill No. 1564 or the ‘Bayanihan to Recover as One Act’, Gordon proposed to include the “implementation of mandatory COVID-19 testing of public and private health workers every fifteen (15) days to ensure their protection.”
“Hindi basta-basta naso-solve ang problemang ito sa COVID. Biglang lalabas ulit iyan kung hindi tayo mag-iingat kaya pinagpipilitan nating ma-test ang mga frontliners, ang mga healthcare workers natin para hindi sila makapanghawa at hindi rin sila madisgrasya,” he said.
Gordon added that the government should shoulder the expenses for the massive testing of health workers.
During the period of amendments for Senate Bill No. 1418 or the ‘Bayanihan to Heal as One Act’ last March, it was also Gordon who proposed to provide additional compensation to Filipino health workers severely hit by COVID-19.
Just recently, he called on the DOH to immediately provide the necessary assistance for the families of healthcare workers who died of the virus./Stacy Ang
