The Department of Health (DOH) is ready to transition to the incoming administration of President-elect Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., according to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Friday.
In an interview with DZRH, Duque said they are just waiting for Marcos to name his next health secretary.
"Hinihintay ko na nga. Matagal na kaming handa na umupo para sa transition plan implementation para mas mabenepisyuhan naman ang susunod na administrasyon," he said.
(I am already waiting. We have been ready for a long time to take a seat for the transition plan implementation in order to further benefit the next administration.)
"Marami kasi kaming pwede nang ibigay sa kanila na kaalaman at expertise at mga nakalap natin na makabuluhan at makahulugang mga karanasan," he added.
(Because we have a lot of knowledge and expertise that we can impart to them, which we have earned after relevant and meaningful experiences.)
According to Duque, the government already has a "playbook" that can be the bases for the implementation of preventing, detecting, isolating, treating, integrating, vaccinating, and booster shots.
"Kinumpleto natin lahat 'yan so hindi na sila kakapa-kapa niyan. They need to capitalize the gains of the administration," he stressed.
(We already finished that so they do not need to remain in the dark. They need to capitalize on the gains of the administration.)
And for the health secretary, the government made a lot of gains against the pandemic.
"Relatively speaking, we're doing fairly well compared to some of our neighboring ASEAN countries. Makita mo talaga naman patuloy na mababa ang kaso natin."
(Relatively speaking, we're doing fairly well compared to some of our neighboring ASEAN countries. You can really see cases continuously going down.)
Marcos has yet to name his own health secretary, but the Philippine Medical Association previously endorsed National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 adviser Dr. Teodoro "Ted" Herbosa to lead the Health Department.
