Rapid test kits, a waste of money

By Leonardo Micua

IT is unconscionable of some local government units to insist on stockpiling and administering Rapid Antibody-based test kits to their constituents even after the Department of Health said it is not recommending as stand-alone tests for diagnosis of COVID-19.

In Dagupan City, the city government continues to administer rapid tests on market vendors, tricycle drivers, newly arrived Locally Stranded Individuals and Overseas Filipino Workers, using the kits it bought in bulk from a local dealer of the product for still an undetermined amount.

This after DOH pointed out that the use of antibody tests is not recommended for use in screening, return-to-work decisions, entry-to-country/province policies, or for similar use due to its low sensitive and high false negative rates, as well as uncertainties to its connection to immunity.

According to DOH, the World Health Organization recommends that rapid tests be used in research settings only, for clinical decision-making until evidence supporting its use for specific indication is available.

In contrast, the province of Pangasinan, already stopped using the Rapid Test kits in compliance with a DOH Department Order No. 2020-0258 that upholds that the RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) as the gold standard for confirmatory test of COVID-19.

We also watched a video uploaded by Dr. Anna York Bondoc, a noted pulmonary and critical care specialist, who wrote President Rodrigo Duterte appealing for a ban on Rapid Testing effective immediately.  Dr. Bondoc stressed that medical professionals worldwide are one in describing Rapid Testing “to be unreliable with numerous false positives and negatives.”

She echoed the same, that rapid testing for diagnosis of COVID-19 is inaccurate, unreliable and has been banned in countries like Australia, Dubai and India and also cited findings in USA, UK and Australia that it is defective.

Noting the widespread abuse and wrong use of rapid tests in the Philippines, Dr. Bondoc is seeking a total ban on rapid tests because after spending on it, Rapid Test kits clearly don’t benefit the people.

Clearly, some people made a killing by selling the anti-rapid test kits to LGUs, including the city of Dagupan that poured so much amount of money to these useless test kits.

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Not all officials and employees of PhilHealth are corrupt. There may be a few who are truly inept and rotten but the majority of the officials and employees of that agency are honest, upright and performing well. 

Without questioning the Ombudsman’s decision on the case of the 13 top PhilHealth officials, we believe that somebody should be held responsible for the systematic loss of billions of pesos in the agency.

Hopefully as Greco Belgica, chief of the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission, has indicated, more PhilHealth officials from the head office and regional offices will get the ax.  

Curiously, we wondered what Senator Imee Marcos had in mind when she asked EVP for legal affairs Rodolfo del Rosario Jr. why the penalty of dismissal was only imposed on some erring personnel of PhilHealth Region 1 who were accused of defrauding funds from that agency in the past. 

The good senator was obviously not satisfied with the answer of Atty. Del Rosario who said the criminal aspect of the cases remains pending before the Regional Trial Court in Dagupan City. 

She knew Del Rosario used to head PhilHealth Region 1 with office in Dagupan City.

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It is a good thing that Mayor Brian Lim is finally upgrading Galvan Street, from corner A.B. Fernandez Avenue to corner Nueva Street. At last, there will be no more Galvan Floating Market, as described by TV Patrol on Kapamilya Channel last August 17 that brought shame (not adulation) to the city.

While we welcome the upgrading of Galvan Street, we cannot but question the timing of the construction of the project, coinciding with the flood season in August.

Definitely, it’s not the right month. For sure, the construction will be affected by the regular tidal flood that submerges the area including city hall premises and Jovellanos Street.

Then, a post on Facebook said the funding for the upgrading of PCC pavement and drainage system at Galvan Street in Barangay II & III, originally among the 112 projects programmed by former Mayor Belen Fernandez, was realigned and reverted to other so-called “priority projects” of Brian.

So, was the ‘reverted’ funding restored?

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