Agarang pagpasa ng “Philippine Health Security Act” panawagan ng lider ng Kamara

Nanawagan si Quezon 4th congressional district Representative Keith Micah “Atty. Mike” D.L. Tan na mabilisang pagpasa ng panukalang   “Philippine Health Security Act” sa gitna ng  PhilHealth data breach na ginawa ng  Medusa hackers at nanatiling ‘di pa nareresolba. Ang House Bill No. 283, na isinampa ni   Tan noong  June 30, 2022 ay maari sanang dahilan para maiwasan ang  data theft and leakage kung naipasa na agad ito sa Congress. Ang hakbang ay upang maiwasan at mapagaan ang epekto ng   data breaches na nakaalarma at nagaganap sa health sector, ito ay sa kabila na nag-a-adopt na ang healthcare organizations ng latest security solutions upang makasabay sa mga bago at dumadaming  cyber threats. Mayroong hindi pa mabatid na bilang ng mga records at personal information na kinabibilangan ng names, addresses, birthday, sex, mobile numbers, at identification numbers ng PhilHealth members ang nakuha ng Medusa kung saan labis na ikinagulat ng  publiko kung kaya pinag-iingat ito laban sa cyber fraud. “The bill not only seeks to establish a health security national action plan and strengthen institutional capacity to implement disease prevention, surveillance, control, and response systems but also endeavors to implement contingency plans to deal with public health events and emergencies, deliberate release of biological or chemical agents intended to harm civilian populations, or attack to the health care delivery system including cyber-related breaches that may affect the operation of medical devices and compromise the integrity of health-related information”, paliwanag ni Tan, na isa ring  Assistant Majority Leader. Nanawagan ito ng paglikha ng inter-agency Philippine Health Security Council (PHSC), na siyang babalangkas ng  national health security plan,  country owned, multi-year, planning process na magpapabilis ng  implementasyon sa  International Health Regulations ng bansa o IHR core capacities. Ayon pa kay Tan, “The health security plan captures national priorities for health security, brings sectors together, identifies partners and allocates resources for health security capacity development. It also serves as an overarching process to capture all ongoing preparedness initiatives along with the country’s governance mechanisms for emergency and disaster risk management.” Ang cybersecurity sa ilalim ng nasabing hakbang ay ang…” collection of tools, policies, risk management approaches, actions, trainings, best practices, assurance and technologies that can be used to protect the cyber environment and organization and user’s assets.” Layunin ng hakbang na ito ay maprotektahan  ang  physical at mental health ng mga Filipinos, limitahan ang economic losses, at mapreserba ang tiwala sa gobyerno sa pamamagitan ng  pagpapalakas ng  public health and health care systems para epektibong at mabilis na harapin ang swiftly confront the ang nakapipinsalang epekto ng panganib sa kalusugan, tulad ng emerging infectious diseases na maaaring mauwi sa pandemya; paggamit ng chemical, biological, radiological at nuclear weapons; health-related cyber warfare;  catastrophic natural disasters and human-caused incidents, sa pamamagitan ng multi-sectoral and multidisciplinary approaches para sa epektibong alerto at response systems. Ang parehong panukalang batas ay naprubahan na sa  House of Representatives para sa ikatlo at  final reading noong nakaraang Congress sa pamamagitan ng pagsisikap ni dating  Committee on Health Chairperson Angelina “Helen” Tan.