Senators Hit DOH After UP Reveals Alarming Errors In COVID-19 Data
SENATORS HIT DOH – The Department of Health (DOH) has been condemned yet again by several senators this Wednesday.
Recently, the University of the Philippines Resilience Institute noted “alarming errors” in the DOH’s COVID-19 case data. This data served as the basis officials use for policies against the coronavirus.
According to an article from ABS-CBN, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian stated the agency was given ample funds for COVID-19 data collection and analysis. Additionally, he emphasized that data is a fundamental factor in governance.
Garbage in, garbage out. If DOH is feeding garbage data to decision-makers, expect garbage decisions from government
Along with this, Senator Leila de Lima highlighted that aside from doubts on actual COVID-19 figures, the country lags behind in testing programs. Moreover, she noted the discrepancies in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country.
The figures don’t add up. It is as if there is an attempt to blow up the number of persons tested while keeping the official tally of COVID-19 cases low
As per the report, Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa suggested that UP and DOH should communicate to make necessary corrections.
I can not directly say there is negligence in data collection, handling, processing, or interpretation. We expect DOH and UP to be experts in their respective fields and they are both working under one government so they have to fix it ASAP,
However, Sen. Panfilo Lacson made a stern stance on the issue. He said that the dissemination of inaccurate data by the DOH was enough to hold people responsible and accountable.
Additionally, he said that incompetence and corrupt thinking would endanger the lives entrusted to them.
Meanwhile, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the errors representing 1% of the data have already been corrected.
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