NO EXCUSE. Gov. Lilia G. Pineda tells doctors and workers of Pampanga’s provincial and district hospitals that maternal and neo-natal deaths are “totally inexcusable.”
PHOTO BY BONG LACSON
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Gov. Lilia “Nanay Baby” Pineda enjoined government doctors as well as their medical staff and personnel to be more sensitive to the poor and prevent the mortality rate in their respective hospitals from going up.
“Ekayu kabud lulukluk keng opisina yu. Kailangan a lalawe yu nung nanu ing kailangan. Munta ako keng emergency room lawen yu. Nung lawen ye talaga at nung akit yu kalulu yang talaga, assess yune subaybayan yune(Don’t just sit down in your offices.
You need to find out what is needed. Go to the emergency room and fi nd out. If you see someone who is really poor, you assess him and fi nd out his problem),” Pineda told chiefs of hospitals, out-patient department (OPD) doctors, billing clerks, PhilHealth clerks and social workers.
Government hospital doctors and their medical staff and personnel were gathered at the Executive House at the Capitol here on Wednesday for a seminar explaining the Primary Care Benefit 1 (PCB1) for the Department of Education (DepEd) by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).
Before the briefi ng of PhilHealth officials, Pineda took the opportunity to also remind chiefs of the 11 Capitol-run hospitals to prevent patients from dying in their care otherwise the Department of Health (DOH) will think twice in renewing their permits and licenses.
That’s why we should be given enough information on what reason or why the patient died, she said.
Meanwhile, during the orientation, PhilHealth Region 3 Manager Lolita V. Tullao said the national health insurance program now include not only the card holders but also their families who will also be entitled to OPD services or check-ups.
The PhilHealth further defined the OPD benefit package as covering health consultations, including annual health profiling, basic screening for cancer of cervix and breast, counselling to maintain one’s health and basic laboratory tests like complete blood count, urinalysis, fecalysis, sputum microscopy, fasting blood sugar, lipid profi le and chest X-ray, if deemed necessary by their primary doctor.
The DepEd will identify the accredited PCB1 providers for their employees nearest to their workplace which would include outpatient departments of government hospitals and rural health units/health centers with laboratory services.
But due to the highcost of medical services, Pineda told PhilHealth officers led by Tullao that the P500 allocation for the whole families of card holders is not enough.
She said the provincial government is already subsidizing around P300 million for the continued operation of 11 government- run hospitals in the province which extend a zero or “no balance billing” to poor patients. Pineda said the DOH-run Jose B. Lingad Regional Hospital here could not even extend similar services to the poor.
Tullao admitted that the P500 allocation is not enough and assured Pineda that as soon as a written proposal and demographic profi le is submitted to PhilHealth by the provincial government, they will study the governor’s proposal to increase the per-family allocation.
Dr. Marcelo Jaochico, provincial health officer, moderated the affair.
