Amid the ongoing pandemic, the Philippines, under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s administration, does not have an appointed Department of Health (DOH) secretary yet because the agency's job is not only about dealing with Covid-19.
This was according to Marcos himself after he was asked in an interview aired on ALLTV why there is no appointed DOH chief yet.
"We have to remember that the DOH is not about Covid alone. It's about public health in general, so that's another side of it. And it's as important as Covid is," he said.
Marcos Jr. said, "there are many other elements to the DOH," and that was why the government has to keep functioning "until we finalize the structure."
"We have the dengue rates are climbing. We have the second highest HIV rate of infection in the world," he cited as some of the reasons.
"The consultants that are helping us, putting the new structure of the DOH together, diyan manggagaling yung ating bagong secretary (That's where our new secretary will come from)," he added.