Iloilo not keen for new hospital
ILOILO CITY July 31, 2017 Banias (right): we are not prepared for a new district hospital Iloilo Province is no longer in position to establish a new district hospital because of budgetary restraint and more so, because the national health insurance provider PhilHealth has changed the “definition of indigents”. That’s the response of Raul Banias, MD, provincial administrator and concurrently, acting head of the Hospital Management Service (HOMS). PhilHealth shouldered a big chunk of patient expenses in the past two years under its scheme “point of care” where indigent patients are enrolled automatically upon admission. Last year, Iloilo prepaid PhilHealth over P100 M for the automatic coverage. “PhilHealth’s new definition of ‘indigent’ excluded more than half of our poor constituents,” Banias heaved. “For 2016, the Province operated on a P2.3 B budget, P900 M of that was allotted to our hospitals,” Banias said at the public hearing here convened by SP Brya...