The PBA Board of Governors agreed that the teams will shoulder the hospital expenses in case their respective players test positive for COVID-19 over the course of their individual workouts.
The board convened on Saturday, a day after the assembly of coaches and team managers, who were briefed by Commissioner Willie Marcial on the health guidelines the league will impose when individual workouts start.
“Sasagutin ng teams lahat ng hospital expenses ‘pag nagka-COVID ang players.
“Just like when players get injured. So there’s no need for any insurance,” Marcial said in a report by the league’s official website PBA.ph.
Upon Barangay Ginebra governor Alfrancis Chua’s suggestion, the board has agreed to upgrade all testing procedures to swab tests. The initial recommendation by the Commissioner’s Office is for players to undergo rapid-swab-rapid tests — in that order — every 10 days.
All tests will then be conducted by San Miguel Corporation’s laboratories — the conglomerate has been on the forefront of the private sector’s efforts in helping in this pandemic — but teams will shoulder the costs.
The board has also given its go signal for the individual workouts to begin after the commissioner relayed the consensus of the coaches, managers and players. Earlier reports said that it might start “within five to seven days after the board meeting”.
Last week, the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases approved the request of Asia’s pioneering pro league to conduct workouts without scrimmages.
With health protocols in place, the league commissioner said that the PBA will again write a letter to the Task Force come August for its next phase — the resumption of team scrimmages.
“Hopefully, payagan tayo.”
