LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Benguet caretaker congressman and Anti-Crime and Terrorism through Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) Party-list Rep. Eric Yap announced that some P100 million will be downloaded to the Benguet General Hospital (BeGH) purposely to sustain the ongoing implementation of the government’s medical assistance to indigent patients (MAIP) for those who are being confined in the health facility who are from the different parts of the province.
Yap, who chairs the powerful House Committee on Appropriations, disclosed that the additional P100-M fund for the program is over and above the P100 million that was earlier released for the same which was already exhausted by the patients who were confined in the health facility over the past several months.
Further, he added that he can still access an additional P500 million from the health department to be able to sustain the zero billing of patients undergoing medical treatment in the said health facility to help ease the burden from them on their need to spend their personal money for their medical needs since the program for such purpose is readily available.
The lawmaker also acknowledged the important role being played by the Malasakit Center which is one of the flagship programs of the Duterte administration in extending the appropriate assistance to indigent patients who cannot afford to settle their hospital bills when confined due to their various illnesses.
According to him, as much as possible, patients who are confined in the health facility for their medical treatment must be discharged from the hospital without shelling out a single centavo because of the availability of the medical assistance for indigent patients and that the same is applicable to the people of Benguet so as not to be an added burden to them and their families in having to look for available resources just to be able to settle their hospital bills.
Earlier, Congressman Yap assured the people of Benguet that he will work hard to look for available resources from concerned government agencies so that they will be able to avail of the various programs geared towards easing the burden from the people on how to effectively and efficiently address their concerns related to health, infrastructure, farm to market roads, livelihood assistance among others that will contribute in the overall efforts to improve their living condition.
Aside from ensuring the availability of funds to sustain the implementation of the medical assistance to indigent patients in the hospital, Congressman Yap was also instrumental in using his personal resources to put up and equip the BeGH molecular laboratory that is now undertaking the swab tests for suspected and potential Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients, the existence of the high flow oxygen machines and the ongoing refilling of its oxygen supply from accredited suppliers.
He revealed that his office is also working out the possible utilization of the said funds in the province’s 5 district hospitals so that more patients will be able to avail of the same once they will be confined and treated in the said facilities for their existing illnesses. By HENT