The chairman of the House Committee on Metro Manila Development has asked the Department of Health (DOH) to place safeguard measures with the opening of the government’s P17-billion Medical Assistance to Indigent Patients (MAIP) Program to private hospitals.
Manila Rep. Manuel Luis T. Lopez issued the statement following a recent hearing by the Committee on Metro Manila Development on the DOH-Metro Manila Center for Health Development (DOH-MMCHD) on the MAIP Program for Metro Manila.
“With Congress significantly raising the program’s allocation from P10.5 billion in 2020 to P17 billion for fiscal year 2021, MAIP stands to do a lot of good for a populace reeling from unemployment, rising prices, and the effects of the pandemic,” said Lopez.
“What is crucial and important is we ensure that this program is free from abuse. Safeguards must be put in place to ensure the integrity of the program,” Lopez said.
In 2019, DOH reported a scheme utilizing the MAIP program fund. The agency also condemned the reported fixing/selling of guarantee letters by unscrupulous individuals at the expense of poor and indigent patients.
“I am a witness how this program helps our unfortunate kababayan in Tondo,” Lopez said.
“It is important that we have this program also available to private hospitals because there are times when it is necessary for highly complicated cases that require specialist physicians and equipment only available in some private hospitals and in cases for example, you get into a vehicular accident and where stabilizing the patient is time essential, it becomes imperative that you go to the nearest hospital,” the lawmaker added.
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