ILOILO – Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. is not seeking legal action against the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).
The state insurer owes 12 district hospitals and the Iloilo Provincial Hospital (IPH) some P151 million.
“Makolekta lang kita. Himuon ta lang ang tanan para nga makakolekta kita,” said Defensor.
In Iloilo City, Mayor Jerry Treñas said the city government may take legal action against the PhilHealth over the unpaid claims of nine hospitals and the city government-run molecular laboratory.
He instructed the City Legal Office to study the filing of criminal and administrative complaints which may be filed with the Office of Ombudsman and the Anti-Red Tape Council.
The non-payment of claims is preventing hospitals from adding more beds for moderate and severe cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Treñas lamented.
UNPAID CLAIMS
As of June 2, the unpaid claims of Iloilo provincial government-run hospitals hit P151,878,490, according to Dr. Paz V. Calopiz, head of the Iloilo provincial government’s Hospital Management Office (HMO) and also the chief of Aleosan District Hospital in Alimodian town.
This is excluding the state insurer’s debt to the molecular laboratory in the IPH which conducts COVID-19 testing, Calopiz said, although they have yet to disclose the exact figure.
Calopiz said PhilHealth’s P151-million unpaid claims covers the period from 2018 to 2021.
Calopiz said once they are paid by PhilHealth, they will return it to the provincial government.
“We are an economic enterprise so gina-subsidize kami kon kulang ang budget. Pero ginahulat namon ang bayad sang PhilHealth kay amo man ina ibayad or ibalik namon sa provincial government,” said Calopiz.
“Gina-see to it gid namon nga mahatag ang serbisyo kag ang mga kinahanglan sa amon nga masarangan,” she added.
CAPACITATING IPH
Meanwhile, Defensor said one of the capitol’s focuses now is the expansion of capacity of provincial government-run hospitals.
For one, the P3.3-million worth COVID-19 Critical Care Unit (CCUs) being constructed at the IPH was already 85 percent done, according to Defensor.
Once completed, it will capacitate the provincial hospital in the treatment of severe/critical COVID-19 patients.
The CCUs will be equipped with personnel, equipment and medical supply. For the Intensive Care Unit, there will be a multi-disciplinary team composed of, but not limited to, board certified Cardiologist, Pulmonologist, Neurologist, preferably or an Intensivist.
The establishment of CCUs is part of the provincial government’s measures to boost the capacity of its healthcare services in response to the surge of COVID-19 cases and advent of new variants./PN
