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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 17) – The government is studying whether it could allow Filipino workers returning from countries with a low prevalence of coronavirus disease to return quickly to their provinces without undergoing a swab test, provided they complete a two-week quarantine, an official said. of the Department of Health. on Saturday.
“Kung talagang iyong (if) the tests are not really accessible, we could just quarantine them for 14 days, and after 14 days they could return to their provinces,” DOH spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a briefing on Saturday.
This statement follows the Philippine Red Cross’s decision earlier this week to stop processing PhilHealth-funded RT-PCR or Real-time Reverse Transcription Polymerase tests of returning OFWs, people arriving at airports. and seaports, which are located in mega-swab facilities and front-line health and government workers.
The Red Cross said this is due to the inability of the government insurer to pay off its debt, which amounts to more than $ 930 million. PhilHealth chief Dante Gierran said on Friday that they will pay their unpaid balances to the nonprofit, as he pointed out some questionable provisions of the existing agreement for COVID-19 testing.
“We want to pay, we just have to resolve some legal issues that affect the memorandum of understanding that was previously signed between the PhilHealth administration and the Philippine Red Cross,” Gierran said, pointing to some questions about acquisitions.
READ: PhilHealth to pay Red Cross debt, but points out irregularities in contract for COVID-19 testing
Meanwhile, the samples will be sent to other government laboratories in Metro Manila and its nearby provinces while PhilHealth and the Red Cross work out their problems, Vergeire said.
“This is a temporary measure … so that operations are not hampered,” he added.
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