MANILA – Some 21 hospitals across the country will be participating in the solidarity trial that will look into the effects of different drugs on coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) patients, a health official said Thursday.
"Noong Lunes, kakapirma pa lang namin ng mga dokumento at naipadala na natin sa World Health Organization [WHO] at tayo ay nakapagbigay na rin ng unang listahan ng protocol, kung ano-anong ospital, ilang pasiyente ang kasama, gaano karami ang mga pangangailangan ng mga gamot (On Monday, we have signed the documents and sent them to the WHO and we've provided the first batch of protocols, which hospitals, number of patients, amount of medicines needed), Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a virtual press briefing.
These hospitals include the Philippine General Hospital in Manila City, The Medical City in Pasig City, San Lazaro Hospital in Manila City, Lung Center of the Philippines in Quezon City, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Muntinlupa City, Baguio General Hospital in Benguet, East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City, Makati Medical Center in Makati City, St. Lukes Medical Center Global, St. Lukes Medical Center Quezon City, University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Medical Center in Quezon City, Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan City, Manila Doctors Hospital in Manila City, Manila Medical Center in Manila City, Chinese General Hospital in Manila City, San Juan de Dios Medical Center in Pasay City, Diliman Doctors Hospital in Quezon City, University of Santo Tomas Hospital in Manila City, Vicente Sotto Medical Center in Cebu City, Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City, and World Citi Medical Center in Quezon City.
Vergeire said there are 500 patients who will participate in the solidarity trial.
"Ang protocol na ginawa ay adaptive, maaaring mag-expand (The protocol is adaptive, it can expand) into having additional patients that can be included in the trial and might also be able to expand the time that were going to do the trial," she added.
Earlier, the WHO said the solidarity trial will compare the safety and effectiveness of four different drugs or drug combinations against Covid-19.
The WHO described it as a "historic trial" which will "dramatically cut the time needed to generate robust evidence about what drugs work".
"We'll give information tomorrow if we have submitted all the documents so we can start with the trial. The drugs will be shipped to the Philippines so this shipment will have a process but we already have a plan while the shipment is not yet here...we'll use the stocks here which will be replaced by the shipment from the WHO," Vergeire said in Filipino. (PNA)
