Unlike in other cities and towns, Dumaguete City will provide indigent families medical and financial assistance of not more than P 5, 000 in every quarter of the year with the Office of Mayor exercising discretion whether to give up P 50,000 to patients on account of the “gravity of the illness and heaviness of the financial burden.”
The proposed ordinance authored by Councilor Joe Kenneth Arbas and co-authored by Councilors Manuel Arbon, Lilani Ramon, Estanislao Alviola, Alan Gel Cordova and Michael Bandal will be readily approved by Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo, who like them, made it a priority in his administration to provide maximum financial assistance not only to indigent families.
If implemented, the measure will simplify the bureaucratic process in obtaining medical and financial assistance and institutionalized it in an efficient manner.
Under the old system, only those certified indigents are eligible to receive financial and medical assistance, however, even non-indigent families may now avail of the cash assistance when “the cost of treatment of illness is financially unbearable provided that the beneficiary will comply with all the requirements.”
To finance these benefits, a medical assistance fund, which should not be less than 3% of the total annual budget will be appropriated for the purpose of providing cash aid to in-patient or out-patient, who do not have the means to pay for medical bills whether in government or private hospitals.
It also provides that if feasible, medical/financial assistance shall be paid directly to the pharmacy or hospital where the patient is admitted. For this purpose, Mayor Remollo can enter into a Memorandum of Agreement with any hospitals or pharmacies that are willing to accept vouchers in payment for medicine.
Another innovation will be the establishment of a help desk in the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital to assist residents of the city who are admitted in the institution so they could process the requirements within its premises.
Meanwhile, a centralized data system of all indigent citizens of the city to be updated every 3 years will be used as reference when granting the financial assistance. The City Social Welfare Office will identify and certify all indigent families in every barangay of the city while the Liga ng mga Barangay will certify that all the indigent families are actual and permanent residents of the city.
The City Health Board to be chaired by Mayor Remollo will be established to ensure the formulation of policies, plans and programs for the efficient implementation of the ordinance. (PIO)
