‘We refuse to be sacrificial lambs’: Nurses appeal for ‘scientific, caring’ COVID-19 response

By Eimor Santos, CNN Philippines, 20 Mar 2021

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 20) — A group of nurses called on the government to come up with a pandemic plan that is “caring,” not just scientific and adequate, as more health workers get infected with the coronavirus.

In a statement on Saturday, the Filipino Nurses United said two more medical frontliners recently died of COVID-19. Latest data from the Department of Health show 82 deaths among a total of 15,346 health workers who contracted the coronavirus more than a year into the local outbreak. Some 376 are active cases.

“We are undeniably facing a heightened public health disaster,” the Filipino Nurses United said, noting the surge in COVID-19 cases nationwide.

On Friday, the country recorded an all-time high of 7,103 new COVID-19 cases, beating the 6,968 infections added on August 10, 2020. From mid-October until early March, the country was confirming around 1,000 to over 2,000 cases daily.

As of last count, 105 hospitals are under “critical” occupancy. In Metro Manila alone, six more facilities were added to the category in a day — from 23 on Thursday to 29 on Friday.

“Nurses in government and private hospitals handle patients and assume workload that have stretched their bodies, brains and emotions to the limits. Health workers work for hours more than the law allows and has therefore led to a neglect of their work-life balance,” the Filipino Nurses United said.

“We refuse to be sacrificial lambs to this pandemic. We are humans and we need to be cared for. We should be saved from this national calamity and public health disaster,” the group added.

What needs to be done

Billions of pesos were allotted for the COVID-19 response on top of loans for vaccine procurement, and this “should be felt” by health workers in public and private facilities, the group said.

It called on the government to address the perennial problem of understaffing through the hiring of additional nurses. Health workers in the frontline against COVID-19 should be provided with accommodation, transportation, and other benefits, including hazard pay and medical assistance. There should be subsidy for nurses in the private sector so they too can have a chance at salary increase and paid leaves, the group said, adding that contractual workers should be regularized as they face the same life-threatening risks endured by regular employees.

It also sought “free mandatory testing” and “guaranteed” personal protective equipment for the health workers.

“After more than one year, we need a serious evaluation of the COVID-19 response to ensure a scientific, more adequate and caring national strategy not only for our health workers but most especially for our people,” the group said.

It reiterated calls for free mass testing, better contact tracing, and improved quarantine services for all.

Medical experts should be leading the fight against COVID-19 and not the uniformed personnel, the group said. It also sought a “more competent” leader as it again called on Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to resign.

The country is racing against time to vaccinate more people against COVID-19 but supply has been limited, with only 1.125 million doses of the Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines available to date. All are allotted for medical frontliners.

Amid the delayed inoculation drive, the country is dealing with three new COVID-19 variants that may be a factor in the dramatic rise in infections – the ones first discovered in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Brazil which are associated with higher transmissibility, less vaccine efficacy, and negative impact on the ability of antibodies generated through previous infection, respectively.