Sue Ona!

I am glad President Aquino has accepted the resignation of Dr. Enrique Ona as Secretary of the Department of Health. In fact, I think that resignation is too mild an outcome for what happened during his term. I honestly believe that charges must be filed against him. More so now, that he has defended the clinical trials on the anti-dengue drug. 

I will advise readers who have not read my series of  articles on the fake anti-dengue drug, TriAct Rx, to read it lest they find my judgment too harsh. The series begins with my appeal for data that may help resolve my increasing worry about the unethical and dangerous nature of the drug. The second article reveals the unethical and dubious nature of both the clinical trials and the manufacturer of the drug and the final column shows the role of several people in the Department of Health in one of the worst medical experiments perpetrated on our people in recent history. 

In that last article of the series I wrote that: “The documents showed that at the very least, Ona was gullible and incompetent, or at worst, in league with a bunch of scammers.” This was before he came out with his defense of the anti-dengue drug. At this point, it seems that he was not misinformed but approved of this travesty. If so he must be held accountable.

Neither a politician nor a scientist

Ona and his defenders say that his troubles are because of political machinations. That, not being a politician, he has lost his post, unlike other tainted cabinet secretaries who seem to have a greater amount of loyalty to the President. Of course, if I were a cabinet official other than Ona, I would take offense at the implication that they are somehow only there because of their capacity to play politics.

But leaving that aside, I am convinced that Ona cannot also claim to be a scientist. His continuing defense of the dengue drug flies in the face of the opinion of our leading scientific experts. Rarely do professional medical societies speak out unless there is something really wrong. Readers who do not know this are not able to put enough weight on the joint statement of the Philippine College of Physicians (PCP) and the Philippine Society For Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (PSMID) condemning the trials. I also cannot over-emphasize the call of PCP regent Dr. Francisco P. Tranquilino to bring the proponents and researchers of the dengue clinical trial to court. The presence of Dr. Julie Hall of the World Health Organization (WHO) at the press conference where Dr. Tranquilino spoke is also of great significance because the WHO is very respectful of national sovereignty and would not usually make public statements unless the matter was one of urgent national and international concern.

As my first article has shown, clinical trial standards that should be the stock knowledge of any medical graduate were violated repeatedly by the trials ordered by the DOH, and now confirmed by Dr. Ona as approved by him with full knowledge.

Scientists are also supposed to take notice of established facts and present evidence for the claims they make. Dr. Ona has done none of this in his defense of his approval of the TriactRX trials. Instead he has doubled down on spurious claims and non-sequiturs.

He says, for example, that he is aghast that current DOH Secretary Garin has ordered the trials to be suspended. He believes that we should be aggressive in our search for anti-dengue drugs. Of course we should be aggressive. But not to the point where we experiment with drugs that have not been proven safe or effective against dengue. Not to the point that we break international and local ethical guidelines and put even children at risk.

To hear that kind of defense from the person who is supposed to be our chief health scientist is enough to make one despair. If we are to be so aggressive in this completely irrational way,  why not test something like moringa or garlic or any number of herbal medicines? These too have no proven effect against dengue but they might work. They are at least more likely to be safe for children.

I need also to remind people that the same TriActRx drug that was being tested as an anti-dengue drug was also tested by the DOH against malaria. In this case there are in fact therapies against malaria and the use of this TriActRx put the effectivity of these therapies at risk for because resistance to these drugs will likely develop if we use TriaActRx against malaria.

Dr. Ona also states in his defense that it is not the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that should give approval for the research but the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD). Really? The PCHRD’s approval of the research was necessary, but I hope he is not saying FDA approval was not necessary. Because in this case it was. Ona should have been aware of FDA guidelines since the FDA is an attached DOH agency.

As for PCHRD approval, he cites a letter from Dr. Jaime Montoya of PCHRD. But Dr. Montoya has already stated that this was taken out of context.

Regardless, it would be so easy to do what a true scientist would do: show us the actual document of PCHRD approval. I have been appealing for that way before I came upon other proofs of DOH malfeasance. But the issue is now beyond the presence or absence of PCHRD and FDA approval. Secretary Ona should also answer for turning the DOH into a fly-by-night scientific laboratory for a dubious company pushing a dubious drug.

Ethics not politics

I can anticipate what those who would politicize this issue would say of me now. That I, too, have become politicized and that I am working for the enemies of Dr. Ona. It has even been implied, for example, that Secretary Garin has plotted to oust Ona to get his post. They will say that my stridency and anger are proof that I have an ax to grind.

I shall say again what I have said in my previous columns: I have no particular political agenda. Before I discovered his shenanigans, I knew very little of Secretary Ona and considered him an ally in the RH Law campaign. Secretary Garin, similarly, is an acquaintance from the struggle for the RH Law.

As for being angry, of course I am angry. There are times when one can be legitimately incensed. I am a physician. I spent my early adult years helping to set up community based health programs that would serve the poorest of our poor. I have not stopped advocating for the accessibility of health care services for the marginalized – women, the poor, indigenous people, etc. I believe that equity and human rights demand that the best health service be accessible to the poorest among us. This is the exact opposite of what happened in these clinical trials which yet again took advantage of the vulnerability of the poor, who were the subject of the clinical trials.

More fundamentally, like Dr. Ona, I swore an oath that a physician should do no harm. It is why this misbehavior on the anti-dengue trials is – in my opinion –  far more foul than the stealing of government funds.

Dr. Ona says he is not a politician, which is why he, of all the controversial cabinet members, has been the first to go. Yes, sir. You are not a politician. You are a doctor who betrayed his oath. Which is why I am glad the President accepted your resignation. – Rappler.com