Mindanaotoday.com | DSWD, Misamis Oriental gov’t offer medical aid to indigent patients
By: Franck Dick Rosete
Zero balance billing is now easily achievable by clients who are accessing services at the eight Misamis Oriental Provincial Hospitals (MOPHs) after the provincial government and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) signed an agreement on Wednesday, November 22.
The signed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) will enable the provision of financial aid under the DSWD’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) to indigent patients from the provincial government-run hospitals in the towns of Magsaysay, Claveria, Manticao, Balingasag, Talisayan, Initao, Alubijid, and Gingoog City in Misamis Oriental.
DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said this is a “more efficient format” for ensuring the assistance under AICS to be provided to the people than providing financial aid personally to the beneficiaries where it was spent not on its purpose.
“We gave it to the right beneficiary, but the beneficiary did not use it for what it was intended for,” Gatchalian said in his message during the ceremony signing on Wednesday.
The MOA states that the provincial government will designate at least one medical social worker each to the eight hospitals who will review clients’ documentary requirements and recommend the assistance amount to the DSWD-Region 10. The necessary documents will all be submitted through a digital platform to ease the burden on the clients.
Misamis Oriental Provincial Administrator John Venice Ladaga said they already made some improvements to the internet connectivity to the MOPH locations, which has been supervised by the management information department, in order not to hamper the online transactions.
The submitted requirements are still being subjected to review and assessment by the DSWD social worker. If a client is eligible, the agency’s social worker will validate the appropriate amount of assistance.
Under the agreement, if a client or beneficiary is inpatient for discharge, a guarantee letter will be provided up to P50,000 to cover the incurred hospital bill. The same amount will be provided to those outpatients who need to undergo laboratory procedures within the premises of the LGU Misamis Oriental.
For those clients or beneficiaries who are outpatient but need to undergo laboratory procedures outside the premises of the provincial government, they will be endorsed to the Crisis Intervention Section for assessment for possible provision of medical assistance through outright cash up to P10,000 or a guarantee letter up to P50,000, whichever is deemed necessary.
The social workers from DSWD-10 will also issue a letter of disapproval if a client is found ineligible for assistance.
The provincial administrator of Misamis Oriental said more or less P3 million will be allocated for each MOPH, and they were planning to include the private hospitals in the province after a few months of observations. The budget is subject to replenishment.
“After three months of good implementation of this, hopefully, according to Mr. Secretary, we will,” Ladaga said in the vernacular.
The DSWD secretary explained that every LGU has a separate AICS program that can be availed of by eligible beneficiaries, knowing that there are crisis situations outside the medical institutions.
Misamis Oriental is the first LGU in Mindanao and the second in the country to implement this after the province of Pampanga.
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