MANILA, Philippines 鈥� The Department of Health (DOH) on Friday decried the 鈥渦nfair鈥� comparison of the Philippines with other countries that have better health systems in assessing government responses to the Covid-19 pandemic.
This, as the Philippines ranked 79th out of 98 countries in terms of performance in the fight against Covid-19 as shown in a study by an Australian think-tank.
While the DOH is open to these kinds of academic exercises and data that help the government assess its response, DOH spokesperson Undersecretary Ma. Rosario Vergeire said, 鈥渢here are differences in how we contextualize our response within the country.鈥�
鈥淚t should be taken in a complete manner where we are being compared to other countries also which have different health systems across the globe,鈥� Vergeire said in an interview with ABS-CBN 黑料社 Channel.
鈥淪o comparing us with [the] United States, comparing us with Thailand which have better health systems from the start compared to the Philippines, I think it鈥檚 not at all fair or I think it鈥檚 not alright,鈥� she added.
Vergeire noted that the study 鈥渄id not measure the response that has been undertaken by each of the countries.鈥�
鈥淚f you would notice here in our country, we measure our response in a multi-dimensional manner looking at outcomes and looking also at granular aspects of doing the response like doing at contact tracing, doing surveillance efforts and all,鈥� the Health agency official said.
鈥淎nd another thing, our parameters would always include not just the number of cases and deaths but also looking at the capacity of our health systems so that we will have a more complete picture of how we are gauging or how we are measuring in this response,鈥� she went on.
According to Lowy Institute鈥檚 COVID Performance Index, top performer countries in the Covid-19 response are New Zealand, Vietnam, and Taiwan.
In Southeast Asia, the Philippines only bested Indonesia in its response but was below countries like Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.