SIX senators on Saturday slammed “big gaps” in the Duterte administration’s health care delivery system in the midst of a raging pandemic, saying the exclusion of hospital tents from PhilHealth coverage was unacceptable.
In a joint statement, Senators Nancy Binay, Juan Edgardo Angara, Sherwin Gatchalian, Grace Poe, Joel Villanueva and Majority Leader Miguel Zubiri reminded PhilHealth authorities in a joint statement that “this is not a minor issue; let us not be dense, please.”
Lawmakers lamented “the tragedy is that the coronavirus did not only disturb the entire healthcare system, it actually laid bare–in the face of the pandemic–the big gaps in the system, the cracks in the health-service delivery, and the inability of PhilHealth to adapt and respond to extraordinary situations.”
“With millions of lives at stake,” the senators asserted they “cannot just be silent on reports that patients had to pay P1,000 per hour in hospital tents simply because PhilHealth would not cover their temporary stay.”
Senators recalled that in crafting the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act of 2019 (Republic Act 11223), lawmakers made sure that every Filipino should have access to health services, and be protected against financial risk. “Therefore, all Filipinos are entitled to PhilHealth benefits and service coverages—including emergency and comprehensive outpatient services,” they added.
Citing the pandemic environment, the senators stressed that PhilHealth has a social and moral obligation to serve the needs of its members, reminding the agency that “it plays a major role in implementing the UHC law and its services are crucially important.”
“Considering the continued rise in Covid-related cases, PhilHealth cannot claim, as an excuse for its indifference, being drowned by bureaucracy or being choked financially,” the joint statement said, adding that “as a government corporation, it is its obligation to break the barriers and provide solutions in the midst of a health care coverage crisis.”
They urged PhilHealth President Dante Gierran “to come up with a standard policy and guidelines to cover patients staying in hospital tents while waiting for admission,” amid widespread reports of patients staying in tents – for as long three to four days – because hospital emergency rooms are overflowing and the waiting list for room admission is in the hundreds.
Some desperate families have tried to ferry by ambulance their sick relatives to hospitals outside Metro Manila, but some have not been lucky, with relatives dying in ambulances or while waiting to be treated.
The senators appealed to PhilHealth “not to ignore the cries of families who have no recourse but to shell out their last money because PhilHealth will not cover the patients on queue in ERs, or staying in temporary tents.
Earlier, Senator Villanueva, citing reports of “overflowing emergency rooms” asked the Department of Health (DOH) to promptly address the problem to avert worsening situations in overcrowded hospitals.
Senator Angara also aired a plea posted on Twitter for DOH authorities to “please inform the public which hospitals/ICUs (intensive care units) are available so families will know where to bring positive cases.”
This, amid complaints that the One Hospital Command’s bulletins did not jibe in real time with the situation on the ground, forcing families to do “hospital hopping” in a desperate race to get room confinement for stricken loved ones.
Image credits: AP/Aaron Favila