PATIENTS’ failure to disclose complete medical information, including their exposure to a person with the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is among reasons for the high infection rate among health workers, the Department of Health said on Thursday.
Aside from incomplete information, health workers are also overworked, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a virtual press conference.
“Our patients weren’t able to give their complete medical history. That started the increase in cases among doctors and other health workers. They were unaware that the patient had exposure or history. So they got the disease,” Vergeire said.
On working hours, Vergeire said health workers lack rest as they sometimes go on 24-hour duty.
“With less hours of work, they will have more time to rest, thereby ensuring high resistance to the virus. Also, this would mean less exposure time to the risk of getting transmitted of the virus,” she said.
The World Health Organization on Tuesday expressed concern over the high number of healthcare workers infected by COVID-19 in the Philippines. It said lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and improper use of PPE are among factors it is looking into for the 13 percent infection rate among Filipino healthcare workers. Other countries in the Western Pacific Region, it said, show only about 2 to 3 percent infection among healthcare workers.
As of the latest count, the Philippines has 1,062 infected healthcare workers, or an infection rate of nearly 16 percent.
Vergeire said the DOH does not believe the high infection rate is caused by lack and improper use of PPE.
“For health care workers, that’s a given. The risk that they take is really high. Even in other countries, a certain percentage of their COVID-19 affected population are really healthcare workers. They are the ones who are really at risk of the disease because they care for our patients,” said Vergeire.
She also said, “I don’t think any doctor really would treat a patient without PPE at all, unless the patient lied in his medical history.”
Vergeire noted risks faced by health workers when they are in communities and outside hospitals.
“Like, when they go home and they go back to work. They get the infection outside of their workplaces. Infection doesn’t happen inside the facility but outside. And the health workers bring the infection inside the facility,” said Vergeire.
Still, Vergeire said the DOH will continue to provide enough standardized PPE sets to medical frontliners as these serve as the primary protection tool against COVID-19.
