DOH exec tells House: Gov't has many fund sources for response vs FLiRT

(Pixabay)

An official from the Department of Health (DOH) has told House of Representatives members that there are several funding sources the agency can utilize to address and mitigate the possible effects of the so-called “FLiRT” variants of Covid-19.

DOH Undersecretary Achilles Gerard Bravo said this on Wednesday, May 29, during the oversight meeting of the House Committee on Appropriations with the DOH.

It was Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo, a vice chairperson of the panel, who sought clarification after reports came out that the DOH supposedly had no budget to respond to the new Covid-19 variants.

‘Nakakagulat dahil sa dami ng pera natin… klaro naman po na maraming pwedeng pagkunan ng pondo, tama po?” asked Quimbo.

(It's surprising because of the amount of money we have... it's obvious that there are many sources of funding, right?)

“Klaruhin niyo naman po sa ating kababayan kasi it would seem like napaka-palpak naman ng Kongreso na hindi natin ginagawan ng paraan pag nag-aaprub ng budget ay hindi tayo gumagawa ng contingencies para sa ganitong pangyayari,” she added.

(Please make it clear to our countrymen because it would seem like Congress has failed and that we do not find a way to make contingencies for this kind of event during budget approval.)

Bravo affirmed that the DOH can allocate funding to support the government’s response to the new variants, such as acquiring vaccinations.

“You are correct that we have so many funds at DOH, even from the CONAP (continuing appropriations) in 2023 and the current. If there's a need to provide something for the emerging Covid variant, we can always make some modifications within our budget,” he answered.

Despite the FliRT variants only posing low or mild case severity, Bravo said the DOH is currently collating all its resources and savings to decide on what funding source to prioritize in its ongoing response. 

“The slow-moving appropriations, we are going to modify them and transfer them to fast-moving appropriations,” he noted.

Quimbo, an economist, said the health department  may also utilize the government's quick response fund (QRF), which is about P97 billion.

“And at the same time, may communicable disease program na obviously na hindi niyo pa nagagamit. At kahit na sabihin natin na walang line item para sa specific variant na ‘yun dahil hindi pa natin alam na mayroong ganong variant nung panahon na sinusulat natin ang 2024 GAA (General Appropriations Act), pwede naman ‘yun,” the lawmaker said.

(And at the same time, there is a communicable disease program that you obviously haven't used yet. And even if we say that there is no line item for that specific variant since we didn't know about the variant at the time of the 2024 GAA's crafting, that is fine.)

The FLiRT variants, which include the KP.2 and KP.3, are under close monitoring by the World Health Organization (WHO). 

The DOH recently said that these variants are likely to be in the Philippines already, but there was no evidence yet on whether or not they can cause severe to critical Covid-19.