AID FOR POOR DENGUE PATIENTS. Dengue patients are being hydrated in one of the health facilities in the province. Governor Arthur Defensor, Jr. said that the province received PHP3 million medical assistance to dengue indigent patients (MAIP-Dengue) from the Department of Health meant to shoulder dengue patients’ hospital payments not covered by PhilHealth. (Photo courtesy of Helen Minguez)
ILOILO CITY -- The Department of Health (DOH) has provided Iloilo province with PHP3 million fund to shoulder the hospital payment of indigent dengue patients not covered by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).
Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor, Jr., in a press conference Thursday, said the DOH has allotted the fund after the visit of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on July 25.
Duque met with selected mayors and governors on Panay and Guimaras islands and personally visited district hospitals in the province to assess the dengue situation.
“Secretary Duque has visited us and we were looking for means to help dengue patients in district hospitals and provincial hospital,” Defensor said.
The governor on Tuesday was granted the authority by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) to sign a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on behalf of the Iloilo Provincial Government with the DOH relative to the medical assistance to dengue indigent patients (MAIP-Dengue).
The MOA for MAIP-Dengue "will be immediately forwarded to DOH( national office) for fund release", Lawyer Suzzette Mamon, provincial administrator, told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Saturday.
The fund will be divided among the 12 district hospitals in the province. Some of the district hospitals that will receive a large chunk of the fund are the Jesus Colmenares District Hospital with PHP400, 000, Iloilo Provincial Hospital with PHP325, 000, and Sara District Hospital with PHP300, 000.
The governor also noted the downward trend in dengue cases in Iloilo.
He said the province has 95 dengue admissions in hospitals on Tuesday and 79 admissions on Wednesday.
He stressed that hospital admissions declined compared to the number of admissions in the past months.
Meanwhile, the preparation for the ceremonial turn-over of San Joaquin Mother and Child Hospital in San Joaquin town into a district hospital is underway.
"We are slowly transitioning to operationalize San Joaquin Mother and Child Hospital into one of the district hospitals in the province," he said.
The ordinance converting San Joaquin Mother and Child Hospital into a district hospital stipulates that the province will allot a fund of PHP43 million for its operation.
The fund is composed of PHP26 million for Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses and PHP17 million for the salary of 32 personnel.
The move to absorb the San Joaquin Mother and Child as one of the district hospitals in the province will benefit the nearby towns as Rep. Pedro G. Trono Memorial District Hospital in Guimbal town operates as the sole district hospital in the first district. (PNA)
