BY CARLA P. GOMEZ
Monday, April 23, 2018

Faster and more Philippine Health Insurance Corp. services for Negros Occidental were pledged at a provincial health summit held at the Convention Hall of the Bacolod Pavillon Hotel in Bacolod City yesterday.

Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr., Vice Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez (l-r) share alight moment at the provincial health summit yesterday* Richard Malihan photo

If Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. invested P2.1 billion in health services, PhilHealth paid Negros Occidental P2.4 billion in 2017 so the investment of the province did not go to waste, its OIC president and chief executive officer, Dr. Celestina Ma. Jude De la Serna, told the summit participants.

She said she hopes that in the future, the province will earn P4 billion and above, because “now I can see that Negros Occidental is really onboard on health,” De la Serna said

PhilHealth coverage in Negros Occidental is 91 percent with 2.8 million members, about 600,000 of whom are indigents, its spokesman, Dr. Israel Pargas, said.

The national average for coverage is 93 percent so Negros Occidental is at par, Pargas said.

Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District), who, along with Marañon, organized the summit, said it is very important that they get their acts together to improve health outcomes.

“If we do not get our acts together there will be a lot of people who will not be given adequate medical attention and this may be very fatal,” he said.

Benitez stressed the need for all stakeholders to work together for more efficient health services and for the upgrading of hospitals.

We want to make sure that when patients go to hospitals there are medicines, equipment and doctors, he said.

Solutions to improve the billing system to hasten PhilHealth’s payment to hospitals were also tackled at the summit, he said.

Marañon said records of PhilHealth and the hospitals need to be reconciled.

The governor pointed out that 40 percent of the provincial budget or about P1.5 billion is allocated for health serviced annually.

Marañon and Benitez also spoke of the success of the Negros Occidental Comprehensive Health Program.

NOCHP has enrolled 263,007 heads of families that covers about 1 million Negrenses,the governor said. 

Vice Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, who delivered the welcome remarks at the summit, congratulated Marañon and Benitez for the success of NOCHP.

He said the holding of the summit was important so health services in the province can be further improved.

Pargas said PhilHealth will look into the request ofBenitez to deputize hospital personnel as coordinators to hasten processing and payment of hospital bills.

This would enable faster transactions between the hospitals and PhilHealth, he said.

Pargas also said PhilHealth is soon to announce new benefits for its members, which will cover mothers who had just delivered and patients with rheumatic hearts.

The governor at the summit signed a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Social Welfare and Development. The MOA will allow the provincial government toaccess DSWD Listahanan data that can be used to identify potential beneficiaries for various programs, such as NOCHP, Assistant Provincial Administrator Ma. Mina Pellejo said. 

Participants at the summit also signed a pledge of commitment to attain the province’s vision of “A healthy empowered Negrense”.*CPG