by Wyanet Alcibar
The Philippine government falls short in protecting the right to health of citizens in a pandemic.
In its 2020 Annual Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) listed four core obligations of the Philippine State in light of COVID-19. These are the following: (1) access to health facilities, goods, and services on a non-discriminatory basis, (2) provision of essential medicines, (3) equitable distribution of all health facilities, and (4) adoption and implementation of a national public health strategy and plan of action that addresses the health concerns of the whole population.
Using these core obligations as indicators of the government’s performance in the pandemic, the CHR’s report revealed weaknesses in the national government’s capacity and will to protect Filipinos’ right to health.
Access to health facilities, goods, and services on a non-discriminatory basis & Equitable distribution of all health facilities
The CHR noted that the resources for health facilities were largely inaccessible in rural areas, owing to the concentration of health facilities in the country’s urban centers. As a result, groups such as indigenous peoples and internally displaced persons were reported to have limited access to health care.
Issues in COVID-19 testing capacity were also flagged by the CHR. The Department of Health’s (DOH) low testing capacity in the third quarter of 2020 (recording a maximum of 8,000 tests per day) indicated “inadequate access to preventive health care” in the government’s pandemic response. The DOH only began to address its data backlog in August 2020 when it increased its daily testing capacity to 27,800 per day. Additionally, the CHR documented the DOH’s provision prioritization of public officials over medical workers and other vulnerable groups in the allocation of testing kits.
Accessibility to COVID-19 treatment was also called into question, owing to prohibitive costs especially in severe cases. In some cases, hospitalization costs would climb to over one million pesos—way beyond what most Filipinos can afford.
Provision of essential medicines
There were limitations in the Philippine government’s provision of essential medicines to vulnerable groups including persons with disabilities (PWD) and older persons.
Most of the country’s PWDs belong to poor families with minimum wage earners whose jobs were impacted by the pandemic, hindering their ability to stock up on medicines and other essential items. The CHR emphasized the need for a customized approach in addressing the needs of vulnerable sectors since government relief goods distributed during enhanced community quarantine lacked care essentials for these sectors.
In March 2020, the Department of Interior and Local Government issued a memorandum circular ordering local government unit (LGUs) to create a list of PWDs within their area of jurisdiction and to include them in the distribution of food and medicine packs.
For older persons, mobility challenges affected the accessibility of medicines. Those living alone especially struggled to procure medicines and visit hospitals for regular checkups due to the suspension of mass transport.
Adoption and implementation of a national public health strategy and plan of action that addresses the health concerns of the whole population
The CHR expressed concern for the government’s militaristic and police-centric pandemic approach. This approach has unjustly impacted the poor and internally displaced those who do not have the means to self-quarantine or seek medical aid. As a result, vulnerable groups have been punished rather than provided for.
Shortcomings in the government’s health strategy were underscored by its treatment of medical workers. Medical workers are experiencing adverse working conditions and inordinate work hours without just compensation throughout the pandemic. Many have reported late payment or non-payment of hazard pay.
Medical workers have also been disproportionately affected by the virus itself. According to the CHR, “an alarming number of health workers were afflicted by COVID-19 in part as a result of the initial late or inadequate response by the government.” To ease the burden on health workers, the CHR recommended for the DOH to “review its policy to decentralize and ensure that more laboratories are accredited or made capable of conducting real-time RT-PCR tests, ensure efficient transportation of medical equipment and other lifesaving devices through sustained coordination with hospitals and local governments, and to be transparent in the procurement of PPE and in full compliance with the government procurement standards.”
READ: Desperate Solutions for Desperate Times: CHR Reports on Economic, Social, Cultural Rights in Pandemic-Ravaged 2020 [Part 1] [Part 2]
