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[av_heading heading=’ FREE USE OF AMBULANCES Only for poor, emergency cases, Defensor EO states ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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ILOILO – A complaint against a district hospital in Sara town prompted Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. to issue an executive order (EO) allowing select patients to use government ambulances free of charge.
Only indigent patients and those with “emergency” and “urgent” conditions must be allowed to use state ambulances for free, stated the July 27 EO addressed to chiefs and administrative officers of district hospitals.
Patients considered indigent by administrative regulation and those in “urgent and emergency cases” may avail themselves of ambulance transportation for free, Defensor said, citing Provincial Ordinance No. 2010-084.
“Service patients, except patients who are otherwise classified as pay patients by administrative regulation but opt to be admitted in a service ward, shall pay for 5 percent of the hospital fees and charges, provided that service patients who have health insurance shall be charged at the full rate for service patients under Section 151, up to the extent of the coverage of such health insurance,” the EO stated, quoting the ordinance’s Section 152 (Adjusted Rates for Service Patients).
The same section provides that, for the balance of hospital fees and charges not covered by health insurances, service patients shall likewise pay for 5 percent of the same while patients considered indigent by administrative regulation shall be free of charge, said the EO.
Earlier, a family of a 5-year-old patient in Sara claimed the driver of the Sara District Hospital ambulance refused to serve them for not paying the P1,800 ambulance fee.
While no formal complaint was lodged, Defensor asked Provincial Administrator Raul Banias –also the head of the provincial government’s Hospital Management Office (HMO) – to look into the case.
An incident report the Sara District Hospital submitted to the HMO indicated that the patient’s mother inquired about the ambulance fee from a nurse on duty, who told her it was P1,800.
The nurse further told the mother that the family may approach the social worker or the hospital management for an affordable arrangement, which they did not do, the report showed.
According to Banias, it was also found that the mother did not have any interaction with the ambulance driver.
Patients who are ambulatory – able to walk about and not bedridden – and not in an emergency condition may use an ambulance for free only if they are indigents, and the hospital’s social worker should be able to confirm this, Defensor said.
The 5-year-old Sara patient was ambulatory, said the governor.
“We cannot blame the ambulance driver for telling them to pay, especially because the patient was able to walk,” Defensor said in Hiligaynon. “They should have approached the social worker for indigence assessment but they didn’t.”
Moreover, Banias met with district hospital ambulance drivers last Wednesday and Thursday to give the latter “clear guidance.”
He stressed that government ambulances may be used for free by indigent patients and those in emergency and urgent cases.
“Our governor has always emphasized that our district hospitals are hospitals for the poor,” said Banias.
On the other hand, capitol’s Human Resources Management Office gave district hospital officials and employees a refresher on their Code of Conduct./PN
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