THE MAYOR of Iloilo City has directed the local government’s legal office to look into the possibility of filing charges against the entire regional office of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) over unpaid claims of medical facilities, which has affected the city’s coronavirus response.
“I am giving instructions to the City Legal to study the filing of criminal and administrative cases against all personnel of PhilHealth Region 6 with the Office of the Ombudsman and the Anti-Red Tape Council for their failure to pay the claims of the hospitals and other healthcare facilities most especially during this pandemic when the island of Panay is facing a surge in cases,” Mayor Jerry P. Treñas said in a statement Wednesday.
“The non-payment of these claims results to hospitals not adding more COVID beds and ICU (intensive care unit) beds to cater to moderate and severe positive patients),” he said.
Mr. Treñas, in an earlier statement, said they have also requested the national government for the construction of three additional modular hospitals with a combined 66 beds for COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) patients.
Region 6 or Western Visayas had 10,987 active cases as of Aug. 24, based on Health department data. Of this, 8,383 were within Panay Island, composed of the provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, and Iloilo including Iloilo City.
The region has recorded 99,310 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, with 85,916 recoveries and 2,383 deaths.
Iloilo City, as the regional center, is home to the biggest public hospital in Western Visayas as well as several private medical facilities, which cater to COVID-19 patients from outside the city.
BusinessWorld sought PhilHealth Region 6’s comment but had yet to reply as of this posting. It was a non-working holiday in Iloilo on Aug. 25 in celebration of the city’s 84th founding anniversary. — MSJ