Duque said that he saw nothing irregular in the health department’s purchase of Remdesivir
On Monday, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said that he saw nothing irregular in the health department’s purchase of Remdesivir.
In an interview over ABS CBN’s TeleRadyo on Monday, Duque said that he saw nothing irregular in the health department’s procurement of anti-viral drug remdesivir, saying that an investigation would be welcomed should there be one.
“‘Yung sinasabi nilang mananagot, okay naman wala naman problema ‘yun, wala naman tayong tinatago diyan. So if magkaroon ng imbestigasyon, we welcome it and we will cooperate. Walang problema ‘yun,” Duque said.
According to Duque, the country’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had given compassionate use permits to hospitals for the use of Remdesivir to treat COVID-19 patients and about 50 hospitals were using the anti-viral drug.
READ ALSO: Remdesivir Has No Certificate of Product Registration — FDA
Duque’s statement came after two lawmakers criticized the health department’s PHP 1 billion-worth purchase of remdesivir, saying that officials could face graft charges over the “grossly disadvantageous” transactions.
Anakalusugan party-list Representative Mike Defensor had dubbed the procurement of remdesivir as “reckless and foolish spending” even after the World Health Organization (WHO) discouraged its use on COVID-positive patients.
House Deputy Speaker Lito Atienza, for his part, questioned the health department’s “wasteful double standard” of promoting a very expensive drug while ignoring other potential low-priced treatments like human-grade Ivermectin.
Defensor and Atienza had been pushing for the use of Ivermectin to treat and prevent COVID-19 despite the World Health Organization’s warning that there’s not enough evidence to show that the anti-nematode drug could be used effectively against COVID-19.
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