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Resorts, hotels in Antique eyed as isolation centers

By Annabel Consuelo Petinglay

July 10, 2020, 2:35 pm

<p><strong>ISOLATION UNITS</strong>. Resorts and hotels in Antique can now apply as isolation facilities for locally stranded individuals and returning overseas Filipino workers. Junie Sabusap, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC) Antique chief, discusses Covid-19 related benefit package during an interview on Friday (July 10, 2020). Sabusap said PHIC could provide benefit package for the community isolation units certified by the Department of Health. <em>(PNA photo by Annabel Consuelo J. Petinglay)</em></p>

ISOLATION UNITS. Resorts and hotels in Antique can now apply as isolation facilities for locally stranded individuals and returning overseas Filipino workers. Junie Sabusap, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC) Antique chief, discusses Covid-19 related benefit package during an interview on Friday (July 10, 2020). Sabusap said PHIC could provide benefit package for the community isolation units certified by the Department of Health. (PNA photo by Annabel Consuelo J. Petinglay)

SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – Resorts and hotels in this province may seek accreditation with the Department of Health (DOH) to serve as community isolation units (CIUs) for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and locally stranded individuals (LSIs).

These establishments are eyed as quarantine centers due to a shortage of isolation centers in the province, said Dr. Feman Rene Autajay, Department of Health-Antique team leader, in an interview on Friday.

He added that they are now ready to certify interested resorts or hotels, however. "So far there has been no resort or hotels yet that has come to our office asking for certification,” he said.

Most of the isolation centers in the province's 18 towns are public schools.

The Department of Education has given local government units until July 15, 2020 to utilize their facilities for quarantine of LSIs and returning OFWs.

Junie Sabusap, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC) Antique chief, said that effective April 15, the state health insurance has provided a community isolation package for the CIUs.

CIUs are either public or privately-owned non-hospital facilities set-up in coordination with or by the national government or local government units (LGUs) to serve as quarantine facilities for probable and confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

“The PHIC Community Isolation Package is up to a maximum of PHP22,449,” he said in a separate interview.

The reimbursement claims by the CIUs shall be used to cover the cost of delivering the services so patients will not be charged out of pocket payment. Resorts or hotels which will be turned CIUs can claim the same.

Aside from the community isolation package, the PHIC has also a testing package ranging from PHP901 to PHP3,409 for laboratories certified by the DOH Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.

“Since the testing is being done usually twice so the package could also be claimed twice,” Sabusap said.

If the testing kit, however, is provided by the local government unit or donated by a certain organization then it will not be included in the reimbursement benefit, he added.

“Included in the benefit package are the screening or clinical assessment, specimen collection, specimen handling, conduct of the reverse transcription-polymerase reaction (RT-PCR) testing, analysis, and reporting of results. (PNA)


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