MANILA With cases exploding across the country two months after lockdown restrictions were eased, Philippines health-care workers called for a national time out as they struggled to cope with the new patients. They got their wish but also a tongue lashing from President Rodrigo Duterte who accused them of making a spectacle of [their] agony.
On Saturday, over 80 medical organizations sounded the alarm as the total number of infections soared past 106,000. Starting Tuesday, the capital Manila and surrounding areas will return to a strict lockdown.
Duterte, however, took exception to their public appeal.
Next time, you can just ask for an audience. But dont go shouting about revolution, he said in a televised address late on Sunday. Go ahead. Try it. Lets destroy the country. Lets kill everyone with covid. Is that what you want?
He told health-care workers not to demean the government. You should do the soul-searching, not us. You can help, but you do nothing but complain.
The Philippines was under one of the longest and strictest lockdowns in the world surpassing that of Wuhan, where the pandemic started but it has done little to curb the spread of the virus. Under stricter quarantine, only essential services will be available, and public transportation will be suspended but some critics say these measures will mean little if health-care workers and ordinary citizens are not given the assistance and resources they need.
The Philippine College of Physicians, which led the call on Saturday, welcomed the quarantine announcement but said it was taken aback by Dutertes remarks.
There was never a call to revolt nor was there a threat to leave patients on their own, its president, Mario Panaligan, said on Monday.
He added that health-care workers had appealed to Dutertes officials on insurance coverage, test kits, and other issues but these requests were left unheeded.
Our empty cries had to be made known somehow, he said.
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