Hospitals told: City Hall will pay bills
Cebu City Hall is committed to paying the P2.2 million worth of hospital bills it owes to private hospitals for accommodating the displaced patients of the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC).
“It’s not a problem. We understand the situation that others had to be referred, it’s a responsibility of the city to take care of them. We just have to look into the details,” Councilor Margot Osmeña said.
Councilor Dave Tumulak earlier filed a resolution to charge the payment to the city’s monthly assistance from the state-owned Philippine Amusement and Gambling Corp. (Pagcor).
The council referred the resolution to the budget and finance committee chaired by Osmeña and the health committee.
While the payment is covered by the guidelines given by Pagcor on its fund use, Osmeña said they are looking into other sources of funds for the payment like the City Hospitalization Assistance and Medicines Program (Champ).
Under Champ, each resident in Cebu City is entitled to P25,000 hospitalization assistance in a year if they are admitted in the CCMC.
“We still have to look if this can be covered by Champ which I think we can revise. We have to adjust it because this will not be the last,” she said.
Since CCMC was damaged by the Oct. 15 earthquake, Osmeña said the guidelines should cover CCMC patients referred to private hospitals.
At least 38 CCMC patients were referred to other private hospitals to enable them to continue treatment after the earthquake.
These hospitals include Chong Hua Hospital, Adventist Hospital, Velez Hospital, Perpetual Succour Hospital and Cebu Doctors’ Hospital.
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