MANILA – The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) announced that it has provided PHP157 million worth of aid to 21,954 Filipinos through its Medical Assistance Program (MAP) last January.
The agency said the funds released through the MAP covers requests for fund augmentation for confinement, dialysis injection, cancer treatment, hemodialysis, laboratory, diagnostic, and imaging procedures, and implant and medical devices, among others.
PCSO chairman Junie Cua said Monday the agency will continue with its mandate to help poor Filipinos in their medical and health needs.
"Makakaasa po ang ating mga kababayan na patuloy tayong gumagawa ng mga paraan upang mas marami pang Pilipino ang ating mapaglingkuran (Our compatriots can hope that we continue to work on ways to serve more Filipinos)," he said in a statement.
The PCSO, which is under the Office of the President, is the government's main arm for raising and providing funds for health programs, medical assistance and services, and charities of national character.
It generates funds for the fulfillment of its mandate through the conduct of sweepstakes, horse races, lotteries and similar activities.
Earlier, Cua had also called for a lowering of the PCSO's documentary stamp tax rate to 10 percent from the current 20 percent, which he said could provide an additional P2 billion to help more indigent Filipinos through higher contributions to Universal Health Care (UHC).
The measure would hike PCSO’s contributions by 170 percent, from a projected PHP 1.25 billion to almost PHP 3.4 billion, he added.
The added contributions can fund 769,230 hemodialysis sessions for indigent diabetic patients considering that the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) coverage rate per session is PHP2,600.
Similarly, it can also help 125,000 indigent patients with severe dengue, with PhilHealth covering PHP16,000 per case. (PNA)
