ANAHAWAN, Southern Leyte, Oct. 5 (PIA) — The head of public hospitals in the province has made it clear that physicians working in hospitals managed by the provincial government should not ask for professional fees unlike their private sector counterparts.
Dr. Edmund Villa, Provincial Hospitals Chief, announced this in a speech during a ceremonial program for the 46th anniversary celebration of Anahawan District Hospital (ADH) September 30, where he was the guest, along with Dr. Carmen Garado, from the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC) –Local Health Support Division (LHSD).
Villa, a former Mayor of Sogod town, said that as salaried government doctors they should not demand more than what is allowed in the Philhealth list of claims for their services.
Villa also announced that government health facilities in the province — the main hospital at Dongon, Maasin, at Sogod, Padre Burgos, Limasawa, Pintuyan, Hinunangan, and this municipality — have been complying with the current Philhealth policy on No Balance Billing.
Any payments due beyond the maximum allowed listed for Philhealth, especially for poor patients, the provincial government will shoulder through the P 170 Million Indigent Fund set aside for this purpose, Villa said.
He encouraged those who may have experienced being asked for professional fees in any of the seven public hospitals in the province to go forward, file complaint, so this can be duly investigated.
Meanwhile, ADH Chief Ionne Castillones told PIA that the highlight of their 46th celebration was a massive, voluntary bloodletting in coordination with the provincial Red Cross and EVRMC.
A total of 176 bags of blood were collected and these were taken from volunteer donors who were mostly teachers, cops, and employees and staff of ADH who donated blood as models, Castillones said.
Last week the Medical Mission Matters conducted a free cleft and palate operation, in which 150 patients were treated for their facial deformities, Castillones also said. (mmp, PIA8-Southern Leyte)
