Lapu-Lapu City ‘indigents’ to enjoy free hospital, consultation services

CEBU CITY, Philippines — “Indigent” residents of Lapu-Lapu City will no longer need to pay for medical consultation and confinement in the two city-run hospitals.

Lawyer Jeannify Tan-Dungog, the administrator of the two government hospitals, said consultation and hospitalization at Lapu-Lapu City Hospital and Sta. Rosa Community Hospital in Olango Island would now be free of charge.

Tan-Dungog, in a Facebook post on Saturday, July 27, also said that the hospital would now strictly implement the No-Balance Billing (NBB) policy for patients, who are qualified members of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).

According to PhilHealth Circular No. 3 issued in 2014, qualified PhilHealth members include the indigent and sponsored members and those who work as kasambahay or househelp.

Under the NBB policy, the qualified members will no longer be asked to pay for hospital rooms, meals, medicine, medical supplies, laboratory and X‐ray testing and the professional fee of the doctors.

Tan-Dungog, however, clarified that delivery of a baby would not be part of the free services of the hospital yet since it would not be considered an emergency as parents would have nine months to prepare before giving birth.

“Paninguhaon ni og implementar kay tarongon pa ang atong pharmacy nga makahatag sa mga tambal nga gikinahanglan. Pero sa pagkakaron, ubay-ubay na gyud og tambal atong pharmacy,” Tan-Dungog wrote.

(We will try to properly implement this because we had yet to prepare our pharmacy so that we could provide the medicine needed by the patients, but for now the pharmacy had quite a number of medicine.)

She added that the hospital administration would be conducting an inventory of the existing medicine in order to update their supplies.

Tan-Dungog also encouraged residents to reach out to her office if they would observe any concerns or complaints in the hospitals’ processes./dbs