(Eagle News)–Dr. Tony Leachon was let go as consultant of the National Task Force on COVID-19 because of his “preemptive releases of some information prior to official announcement…that jeopardized the communication efforts of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases and the NTF.”
NTF action plan chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. added Leachon’s actions “caused unwarranted misunderstanding between two entities that should be working together,” noting that the doctor was “cautioned but remained deaf to collegial advice.”
“Constructive criticism among colleagues is most welcome to assure improvement but this should have been done internally to maintain unity of effort,” Galvez said.
Although “transparency to the Filipino people” is the government’s “primary objective,” Galvez said “allowing the course of the decision-making process to take place is a must in order to derive the best decision that will serve the common good.”
Nonetheless, he said he maintains his respect for Leachon and thanked him for his services “albeit very short.”
“Our institutions are not perfect but I can assure you that the majority of those who serve are doing so with a lot of dedication even at the risk of their own lives,” he said.
“To this end, I state my unequivocal support to the ranks of the professional men and women of the Department of Health and all our medical frontliners who continue to man their forts despite the losses in their ranks,” he added.
Earlier, Leachon said he was asked to resign from the NTF over his criticisms of the Department of Health’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic which reportedly did not sit well with Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.
Leachon had noted the DOH had “lost focus in everything” related to the response.
“Without a clear, cohesive and transparent communication campaign from DOH, the noise from an overly stressed-out and highly emotional general public, interposed with a varied mixture of political opinions and even potentially misleading facts, will sadly just drown out the truth,” he had said.
