r. Neifertiti Gosengfiao, Councilor Claudio Jesus Puentevella, Capt. Lucho Giovanni Giron, Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, Dr. Willy Yu, Dr. Adriano Suba-an and Dr. Evangeline Johnson (l-r) at the signing of the BacCHP memorandum of agreement on Friday.*
The Department of Health is supporting the Bacolod Comprehensive Health Program (BacCHP) that aims to aid indigent patients, DOH-6 Regional Director Adriano Suba-an said Friday, October 14.
Suba-an witnessed the signing of the memorandum of agreement between Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez and officials of the Bacolod Queen of Mercy Hospital (BQMH), which is the third private health facility to join the BacCHP.
The agreement was signed by Benitez and BQMH representative Capt. Lucho Giovanni Giron, with Councilor Claudio Jesus Puentevella, Dr. Willy Yu, BQMH medical director, and Dr. Neifertiti Gosengfiao, business development center director, as witnesses at the Bacolod City Government Center.
Dr. Evangeline C. Johnson, BQMH chairman, said that their hospital will allocate 30 beds for indigent patients in airconditioned wards.
“We at the Department of Health are very happy because you are leading the way in Western Visayas,” said Sub a-an, who congratulated Benitez for the initiative and the private hospitals for their support.
“Under the Universal Health Care Act, the private hospitals are going to allocate at least 10 percent of their total number of beds (for indigent patients)” and the BacCHP initiative honors that, Suba-an said.
Benitez said the essence and concept of the BacCHP is for government to access facilities of private hospitals for indigent patients. We will also find ways to extend the resources of the national government to private hospitals, he added.
“We know for a fact that our government hospital here, the regional hospital, is overwhelmed by patients. It makes logical sense to use some of the facilities of private hospitals,” Benitez said.
Puentevella, Sangguniang Panlungsod committee on health chairman, said the BacCHP applicants have hit 50,036, and more than 20,000 cards are ready for release.
The mayor has instructed that the poorest of the poor will be the priority for BacCHP coverage, Puentevella.
Private hospitals will now accept BacCHP cardholders without the need of any deposit and other requirements sought from patients, the mayor said.
“This becomes an easier way for them to be able to access medical attention,” Benitez said.
The Metro Bacolod Hospital and Medical Center and South Bacolod General Hospital joined the BacCHP on Sept. 15.
Riverside Medical Center has also showed interest in signing an agreement with the mayor, Puentevella added.*