Proposal to spend P28M for health workers’ protective gears deferred

The Cebu City Council conducts a special session on Monday, February 10, 2020, to discuss issues regarding the threat of the 2019 novel coronavirus in the city. CDN Digital photo | Morexette Marie B. Erram

CEBU CITY, Philippines—The Cebu City Council deferred on Monday, February 10, 2020, a proposal to spend P28.2 million for the purchase of protective gears for barangay health workers (BHW). 

A special session was conducted for the resolution penned by Councilor Dave Tumulak to allocate funds for BHWs’ personal protective equipment (PPE) Monday morning.

However, the council decided to postpone its approval due to mounting clarifications on how the funds will be used accordingly, and the lack of resource speakers who are in authority who can respond to important questions. 

Among the questions raised by several members of the council include clarifications pertaining to the procurement processes, specific breakdown of the funds, and what will happen to the remaining P15 million in the event they will approve to set aside P28 million for PPEs.

The issue will be further discussed on Wednesday, February 12, during the council’s public consultation. 

Tumulak, who chairs the council’s committee on disaster risk reduction and management, said BHWs should be equipped with protective gears as means to prevent contracting as well as the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). 

Read: Tumulak: More personal protective equipment needed for city’s health workers

BHWs are tasked to monitor patients under investigation (PUIs) and patients under monitoring (PUMs) suspected to have the 2019 novel coronavirus acute respiratory disease (2019-nCoV ARD) confined in the designated Barangay Isolation Units (BIUs). 

The Department of Interior and Local Government on February 6 laid down guidelines on how local government units to respond to the crisis.

Tumulak said the funds will be sourced from the city’s P43-million unspent disaster funds accumulated since 2015. 

During the session, Tumulak agreed for the postponement of his proposal. 

Asked to comment on the development, Tumulak said he is hoping it will be approved this Wednesday.

“The reason why we called for a special session today was in the hopes of having it approved it today due to the urgency of the 2019-nCoV situation,” he said. /bmjo