The Davao City government has opened talks with a pharmaceutical company for the possible purchase of medicines for the treatment of the coronavirus disease.
Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte confirmed on Monday during her weekly program on Davao City Disaster Radio, saying, “We reached out initially sa pinaka-una nga kompanya nga nag- announce nga duna na silay tambal.. We are now directly communicating with the distributor for the Philippines (We initially reached out with the very first company which announced that they have already developed a medicine..We are now directly communicating with the distributor for the Philippines).”
Mayor Sara was thankful to Secretary Carlito G. Galvez, Jr., the Chief Implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) for Covid-19 for assisting the city to tap the companies. She added that the medicine deal is “very promising”.
“Dili lang usa ko muhatag og date kay basin ma-premature ang jubilation or celebration sa people of Davao. We are already talking to the distributor and positive ang response (I cannot give a date yet because it may cause premature jubilation or celebration of the people of Davao. We are already talking to the distributor and the response is positive,” she said.
The mayor said that the city has also reached out to the other company which said it has also the medicine.
Mayor Sara said the arrival of the medicines for the treatment of the Covid-19 may also take time because there is no approved Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the medicine in the United States.
According to her, the city government has previously bought anti-Covid-19 vaccines which have not arrived yet and this may be due to the huge demand for the vaccines globally.
She is optimistic that the medicines for the treatment of the Covid-19 may arrive ahead of the vaccines given the development of the talks for the purchase of the medicines.
In the meantime, as of November 15, 2021, the city government has already inoculated 951, 686 for the first dose and 875, 080 for the second dose of the vaccines purchased by the national government.
Mayor Sara also announced that the city will participate in National Covid-19 Vaccination Days set on November 29- December 1, 2021, to ramp up the vaccination and contribute to the 15 million vaccination target of the national government. CIO
