A total of 337 donated respirators were already distributed to government and private hospitals, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Friday, June 11.
The DOH also said that 63 remaining respirators are now “ready to be deployed” in areas that are currently experiencing a spike in COVID-19 cases.
Some lawmakers hit the DOH for the supposed non-distribution of respirators donated by tobacco companies.
“The DOH further clarified that it has received about 400 respirators from the Temasek Foundation. Out of this number, 30 units were sponsored by a private company associated with the tobacco industry,” the Health agency said.
However, with the provision of the CSC-DOH Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2010-01 which prohibits the DOH from accepting donations from the tobacco industry, the DOH “facilitated the immediate delivery of the machines to 10 private hospitals identified by the private company for them to be used on COVID-19 patients.”
The DOH expressed its gratitude to Temasek Foundation for the donated respirators. It also thanked the Embassy of the Republic of Singapore for facilitating delivery of the said donations.
“More than 100 public and private hospitals in the Philippines received the respirators,” it said.