By Ben Rosario

With an over 50 percent reduction of the 2020 national budget for disease surveillance, concerns about the country’s preparedness against the deadly novel coronavirus were raised Monday.

Gabriela party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas said from P263 million last year, the 2020 allocation for epidemiology and disease surveillance program is now a measly P115.5 million.

Brosas said the 56 percent cut poses serious concerns on government’s bid to screen potential coronavirus carriers.

“We are worried that this hefty budget cut will constrain the health department’s capability to track and effectively repel the coronavirus outbreak, especially with the influx of tourists in various entry points in the country.”

She said approving a supplemental budget to increase the allocation for disease surveillance is one way of addressing the issue. “The health and lives of millions of Filipino people are at stake here. Congress should be ready to approve a supplemental budget to the DOH if necessary.”

The party-list solon noted that at least 11 foreigners across the country are under verification for possible 2019-nCoV infection.

But even as China has started implementing strict measures to prevent the health crisis from developing into a pandemic, there remain threats that somehow virus carriers might slip out of China and land in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, Brosas lamented that the budget for disease surveillance is “dwarfed by the allocation” for privatized health care implemented by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp (Philhealth), which has P71.35 billion to implement its programs.

Brosas also noted that the government’s anti-insurgency task force, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), also has a much bigger budget at P36 billion compared to DOH’s funding for disease surveillance.