Residents in need of medical assistance from the government can get support from the medical assistance for indigent Patients (MAIP) funds that will be downloaded for this year to various public health care facilities.
Benguet caretaker congressman Eric Yap disclosed that for this year, some P1.15 billion is available with the health department to support the continuous implementation of the program.
Aside from the P750 million in the annual budget of the health department for the MAIP, including the P250 million courtesy of Davao City Rep. Paulo Duterte, Congressman Yap claimed that there is more or less P400 million carried over for the same program from last year’s unused budget that significantly increase of the funds for the said program.
The lawmaker pointed out that residents from the province who are in need of help in paying their bills at the Philippine Heart Center, National Kidney and Transplant institute, Lung Center of the Philippines, and other specialty hospitals as well as public health care facilities in Baguio and Benguet, can access this fund through the Benguet Congressional District Office and the concerned Malasakit Center.
He expressed his gratitude to Rep. Duterte for sharing his excess funds for his medical assistance in Davao City to Benguet which shall benefit more needy people in the province.
According to him, relatives of confined patients can just directly coordinate with their office for the processing of the said medical assistance for them to be able to settle their medical bills with the hospitals where their patients are being treated.
Apart from the specialty hospitals in Metro Manila, the MAIP can also be accessed by relatives of patients confined at the Baguio General Hospital, Benguet General hospital and the different district hospitals in the province, particularly the Atok District Hospital, Northern Benguet district hospital, Kapangan Medicare hospital, Dennis Molintas Memorial hospital and the Itogon district hospital.
He explained that the huge allocation for the province’s medical assistance to indigent patients is part of the efforts of the government to ensure that people will have greater access to quality health care services.
