PASADO na sa ikatlo at huling pagbasa sa mababang kapulungan ng Kongreso ang panukalang bubuo sa Philippine Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) na kabilang sa prayoridad na binanggit sa State of the Nation Address (SONA) ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte.

Ang panukalang isinulong ni Quezon Rep. Angelina “Helen” Tan ay suportado ng 193 mambabatas habang anim naman ang bumoto ng kontra rito.

Sinabi ni Tan, pangunahing awtor at sponsor ng House Bill (HB) No. 9560 o CDC, malaki ang magagawa ng panukala upang paghandaan ang anomang pandemyang posibleng dumating kung saan naging malaking problema ngayon ng buong mundo ang coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19).

Pinasalamatan ni Tan, chairperson ng House committee on health, sina Pangulong Duterte, Speaker Lord Allan Velasco at House Majority Leader at Leyte 1st District Rep. Martin G. Romualdez dahil sa suportang ibinigay upang maisabatas ang panukala.

“The bill seeks to modernize the country’s capabilities for public health emergency preparedness and strengthen the current bureaucracy that is mandated to address communicable diseases in the country through organizational and institutional reforms,” ani Tan.

“To better prepare against public health emergencies, we need to embark on two essential initiatives: health modernization and institutional reforms. We cannot merely keep on rearranging the boxes within our health organization without capacitating our health personnel and resources. That will not work. We need to modernize and reorganize our health system at the same time to protect the public from health risks,” dagdag ni Tan.

Sa kanyang sponsorship speech, binigyang-diin ni Tan ang kahalagahan na pagyamanin pa nang husto ang kasanayan at kaalaman ng heath personnel laban sa iba’t ibang mga sakit sa bansa.

“The bill mandates necessary reforms in the recruitment, training, employment and management of the country’s public health emergency personnel; development of relevant programs for the acquisition and upgrading of appropriate technologies, laboratories, and equipment; and provision for the needed relocation, improvement, and construction of facilities to enhance the country’s preparedness and response to public health emergencies,” ayon sa panukala.

“Once enacted, the CDC will be created as an attached agency to the Department of Health (DOH) and serve as the principal agency mandated to develop and apply communicable disease prevention and control initiatives. It will serve as the technical authority on all matters regarding disease prevention and control,” nakasaad din sa panukala.