The Bacolod City Comprehensive Health Program (BacCHP) has been recognized for Excellence in Health Compliance and Responsiveness during the Excellence in Local Governance (EXCELL) Awards 2024 of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) 6 (Western Visayas) held in Iloilo City on Tuesday.
BacCHP focal person Mae Cuaycong said the recognition validates the efforts of the administration of Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez in creating a program that provides accessible health care services to Bacolodnons.
“Some people said that BacCHP is an impossible dream, but now it has touched thousands of lives and will continue to do so. Bacolodnons can count on the local government to help them in times of need,” she added.
Cuaycong, together with BacCHP special consultant for health Dr. Eric Saratan and medical director Dr. Edwin Miraflor Jr., received the award from DILG-6 Director Juan Jovian Ingeniero.
Considered by the DILG-6 as one of the EXCELL success stories for 2024, the BacCHP was created and institutionalized through the passage of an ordinance authored by Councilor Claudio Jesus Puentevella, chairman of the City Council Committee on Health.
Launched in 2022, the BacCHP, which has registered more than 259,000 beneficiaries, is “an innovative initiative focused on providing accessible health care to Bacolodnons by offering family cards to cover emergency medical expenses and partnering with seven local hospitals.”
The family card “ensures that no Bacolodnon is denied care, especially during emergencies, due to inability to pay hospital deposit.”
Since May 1, 2023, at the start of the program’s curative phase, the city government has paid a total assistance of P100.46 million to accredited hospitals.
Under the BacCHP ordinance, the city government provides P15,000 for each health card holder and coverage for hospital bills for their dependents.
Partner medical facilities include the Department of Health (DOH)-retained Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital and private health care institutions Bacolod Queen of Mercy Hospital, South Bacolod General Hospital and Medical Center, Dr. Pablo O. Torre Memorial Hospital (Riverside Medical Center, Inc.), Bacolod Adventist Medical Center, The Doctor’s Hospital, and Metro Bacolod Hospital and Medical Center.
In November, the city government received a PHP50 million assistance from the DOH, which was directly channeled to the accredited hospitals after Benitez requested assistance to cover rising health care costs.
BacCHP also includes mobile blood donation campaigns, medical missions and other vital health services.*PNA