DINO
THE Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (Opav) and four government agencies have signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the implementation of the Malasakit Center, which aims to help residents secure government help for their medical expenses.
The program is a one-stop shop that would give mainly indigent residents of Cebu and Bohol confined in government hospitals easier access to health benefits, said Opav Secretary Michael Dino.
“They only have to go to one place inside the hospital. They just have to fill up one form for all the agencies,” Dino said partly in Cebuano.
The center will have representatives from the Central Visayas offices (Region 7) of the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).
He said the patients seeking help would “just have to fill up one form and the hospital social worker will assess.”
In Cebu, the Center will be placed at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), Saint Anthony Mother and Child Hospital, and Eversley Hospital, all in Cebu City; and the Talisay City District Hospital in Talisay City.
In Bohol, the two centers will be set up in the Gallares Hospital and Del Valle Hospital.
Dino said the construction of the Malasakit Center will begin next week and will be funded by the private sector.
The centers are targetted to open by December 8.
“We do not have funds. But we have people from the private sector who are willing to sponsor. We will not spend money for this,” he said.
DSWD-7 Director Ma. Evelyn Macapobre said her office still has around P75 million that could be used to aid indigent patients up to the year’s end.
“Safe pa ta hangtud (We are safe until) December. We are hoping nga makita sa Presidente nga nakaabot gyud sa pobre (that the President will see that the allocated budget has reached the poor),” she said.
Dino said President Duterte has given a “thumbs-up” to the program.
“He knows about the project. He said go ahead,” he said.
He said this is the first time to have a one-stop shop in the Philippines.
“We try first sa Visayas. Hopefully, by next year we (can) put up 50 to 60 Malasakit Centers. Hopefully, Luzon and Mindanao will follow,” Dino added.