By Modesto P. Sa-onoy
First, a note on the data the government is dishing to the public. Last Saturday I cited the report of the Department of Health published in national papers of September 2 that there are 22 deaths in the province and five in Bacolod due to COVID-19.
A Bacolod newspaper, on the other hand, cited the Bacolod City Health Office report that as of September 1, the City has a total of 1,315 Covid-19 cases. Of the number, 543 are recovered cases, 746 are active cases or 73%, and 26 deaths. The recovery is thus 73% with 3.5% fatalities.
Although the figures from the two agencies do not match (why?) the situation is not critical. In fact, some say that the fatalities were not due to the coronavirus per se but from other ailments aggravated by the fear of the virus and deaths from other causes are registered as due to COVID-19.
Last Saturday, the local newspapers reported that in Bacolod, the initial results of last week’s mass testing show that out of the 1,420 cases, 112 or about 8% were found positive. A “news” in social media say 331 from Bacolod are found positive.
What do these reports (though conflicting) tell us? That the panic is overacting. If we compute the recovery based on the national 1.6% fatality, the chances are most will recover.
Under the present condition of societal stress let us take a look at the brighter side.
Recently the frontliners, especially the doctors, had been voicing their concerns about the approaches to the treatment of COVID-19 patients. An article had been making the rounds on the internet and last Thursday I learned of two drugs that had been proven effective in other countries. These are hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. If these worked in other countries, why can’t they work here?
On matters of medicine, we depend on our doctors to provide the best and indeed our trust rests on the fact that they have sworn an oath to heal the sick.
If, as social media says, these two drugs are the saving grace for the virus victims, the government should forthwith make them available. Sadly, however, information says that the Department of Health is preventing the doctors from prescribing these drugs. Why, when they should even be made available for free in all hospitals and equipped health centers, pronto?
If other countries allow them, why not the Philippines, unless there are bureaucrats, opportunists and conspirators in the DoH that take orders elsewhere.
I hope that the medical societies in the country present their opinions on this matter before the proper body, of course starting with the DoH but if Secretary Francisco Duque and cohorts continue to oppose the use of these proven effective drugs, then that matter should be exposed.
In fact it is time that citizens put pressure on their government, especially on the DoH whose head the senators said is mishandling the battle against the virus. I would not be surprised if one reason for this mishandling is the refusal to give the doctors the discretion to prescribe their choice of medicine like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. The doctors must have used them and found that these medicines worked.
By why were these drugs excluded by the DoH and why do the doctors insist on their use? There seems to be a conflict among practitioners, researchers, clinicians, politicians and bureaucrats. There could be other reasons for these differences, as the poet W.H. Auden said, “There’s always another story. There’s more than meets the eye.”
The confusion and conflicting news appear to be part of a global attempt to create panic such that data are being manipulated to weaken our resolve to oppose efforts at mind control. The easy acquiescence and blind obedience even to inane orders are symptomatic of this effort. Is the DoH afraid the pandemic would end?
New information of possible collusion reinforces this observation. The case of these two drugs seems to be part of the blocking operation.
I just received a lengthy article that supports the suspicion of a global conspiracy, a crime against humanity. The article is entitled, “Fraud in the Time of Covid: The Global Repercussions of a Fraudulent Research Paper on Hydroxychloroquine”.
We’ll quote from this article tomorrow.