DOH: RITM won’t be abolished

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) has denied that the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) will be abolished.

“It is not true. Why will we close the RITM when this health facility is something that we rely on, especially during the pandemic,” DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said.

Vergeire said the RITM would be placed under the Center for Disease Control (CDC) of the Philippines.

She said the RITM’s laboratories will be absorbed by the Center for Health Laboratory of the CDC. Studies and trials being done by the institute will be under the Center for Health Evidence.

“The RITM will not shut down. It will be part of the CDC. In fact, it will further expand because it will be placed under the CDC,” Vergeire said.

“This means that systems and processes will be institutionalized together with the other offices of the department,” she added.

Vergeire said additional health workers would be hired by the DOH once this setup is realized.

Employees of the RITM on Friday held a protest to denounce the possible abolition of the health facility to give way to the establishment of the CDC.

They said the creation of the CDC would result in displacement of health workers of the RITM and other agencies under the DOH.