LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – Indigent and financially incapacitated residents of Pangasinan may now avail of medical assistance from the 14 provincial government-run hospitals in the province following the downloading of the PHP287-million fund from the national government.
The fund is part of the Medical Assistance for Indigent Patients (MAIP) and Financially Incapacitated Patients program, a national government program aiming to provide medical and financial assistance to patients seeking consultation, rehabilitation, examination, or confinement in government hospitals.
“MAIP program fund shall cover essential and life-saving medicines, services, and other medical products as prescribed by a licensed physician or health professional. Indigent patients are the primary recipients of the program. Indigent patients are those who have no visible means of income or whose income is insufficient for family subsistence as identified by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) based on specific criteria,” read the Department of Health (DOH) Administrative Order No. 2020-0060 which was amended last March 30.
Dr. Dalvie Casilang, Hospital Management Services Office administrator, in an interview on Thursday, said beneficiaries are indigent and financially incapacitated, who have been assessed not based on their socio-economic status but on the status of the medications they will be needing, including that for cancer and auto-immune diseases.
Under the AO, “a patient who is not classified as indigent but demonstrates the inability to pay or spend for necessary expenditures for one’s medical treatment such as but not limited to patients with catastrophic illness or any illness, which is life or limb-threatening and requires prolonged hospitalization, extremely expensive or other special but essential care that would deplete one’s financial resources, as assessed and certified by the medical social worker.”
“Documentary requirements to be presented by the inpatients include guarantee letter, certificate of indigency, any valid identification (ID) card, point of service assessment slip, clinical or medical abstract certificate and statement of account or final bill while for the outpatients, they need to submit guarantee letter, certificate of indigency, any valid ID, point of service assessment slip, prescription duly signed by the physician, and laboratory or radiology request,” Casilang said.
The breakdown of the fund allocated for the provincial government hospitals is as follows: Pangasinan Provincial Hospital with PHP93.1 million; Urdaneta District Hospital with PHP40.7 million; Bayambang District Hospital with PHP28.2 million; Western Pangasinan District Hospital with PHP22.3 million; Eastern Pangasinan District Hospital with PHP21.8 million; Lingayen District Hospital with PHP14.8 million; Mangatarem District Hospital with PHP14.3 million; Pozorrubio Community Hospital with PHP9.9 million; Mapandan Community Hospital with PHP6.9 million; Umingan Community Hospital with PHP6.9 million; Asingan Community Hospital with PHP6.9 million; Bolinao Community Hospital with PHP6.9 million; Dasol Community Hospital with PHP6.9 million; and Manaoag Community Hospital with PHP6.8 million.
“We were very blessed because Pangasinan Fifth District Representative Ramon Guico Jr., who is the father of our Governor Ramon Guico III, diverted his MAIP funds to the province and also with the help of House Speaker Martin Romualdez,” Casilang said.
Governor Guico, in a recent interview, said the program will go a long way in providing the health needs of indigent patients in the province.
The Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) has approved Provincial Resolution 527-2023 which authorized the governor to enter into a memorandum of agreement with the DOH Center for Health Development Ilocos Region for the implementation of the program. (PNA)
