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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider 'Hindi kasalanan ng tao': Health workers urge gov't to stop blaming people for COVID-19 surge

'Hindi kasalanan ng tao': Health workers urge gov't to stop blaming people for COVID-19 surge

Published Aug 16, 2021 11:41 am

Health workers on Monday, Aug. 16, urged the government to implement strict health measures to ensure the safety of Filipinos, instead of blaming the public for the rising coronavirus cases.

(AFP / MANILA BULLETIN)

In a virtual forum, Jao Clumia, head of the St. Lukes Medical Center Employees Association, pointed out the government's failure to implement strict health measures in public places.

"Bakit natin ibibigay sa mga tao yung bakit tayo nagkaroon ng ilang wave? Ilang wave na tayo, pangatlo, pang-apat na ba to, kung gusto nating ayusin yung pamamalakad ng gobyerno, sugpuin ang COVID-19, higpitan natin (Why would we blame the people for having a lot of COVID-19 waves already? We are already on our third, fourth wave, if we want to fix this, the government must tighten COVID-19 measures," Clumia stressed.

Meanwhile, Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center Nurse Cristy Donguines shifted the blame to the national government, noting that it was them who downplayed the community transmission of COVID-19 in March 2020.

"Nasa Department of Health, nasa pamahalaan natin, kung noon pa lang na-contain na natin yung ganitong klaseng problema, magkaroon man siguro tayo ng transmission dito sa loob, magkaroon man siguro tayo ng hawaan sa Pilipinas, hindi ganito kalala (It's in the Department of Health, it's in our government, if we only contained this kind of problem before, maybe our local transmission, or local infection wouldn't be this bad)," Donguines said.

"Bakit natin isisisi sa tao? Nagkaroon ng ECQ-ECQ, sa matagal na panahon na nag-ECQ tayo, bumaba na ang kaso natin, nung bumaba ang kaso natin, anong sinabi ng IATF? Anong sinabi ni Duque? Kailangan na nating magbukas nang paunti-unti (Why do we blame the public? The government implemented ECQs, our cases went down, and what did the IATF say? What did Duque say? We need to open up little by little)," she added.

Donguines said the spike in cases was the result of failure to sustain the implementation of strict health measures in public places, such as malls, churches, and other areas.

Related Tags

ECQ covid-19 enhanced community quarantine Alliance of Health Workers COVID-19 surge
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