- CHERYL G. CRUZ
Beneficiaries of the Bacolod Comprehensive Health Program (BacCHP) can start using their cards starting on May 1.
This as the BacCHP officers and liaisons started distributing the cards Tuesday to more than 1,500 initial beneficiaries in various barangays of Bacolod.
These include 96 actual and 400 temporary cards to beneficiaries in Brgy. Villamonte, four actual and eight temporary cards in Brgy. Montevista, 205 actual and 317 temporary cards in Brgy. Estefania, and 160 actual and 397 temporary cards in Brgy. Alangilan, the city said.
The temporary cards are given to barangay indigents who are still not registered with the BacCHP, while those who are already enrolled in the program received their actual cards, the city added in a statement.
The card distribution will be held Tuesdays and Thursdays this month, specifically in Brgy. Granada on April 20, barangays 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and Banago on April 25, and Bata and Mandalagan on April 27.
The BacCHP is a flagship health program of Mayor Alfredo Benitez, who said that his administration gives “great emphasis to our health sector by virtue of the BacCHP, which aims to enhance the delivery of healthcare services to the public and consequently blur the inequity between classes, in terms of healthcare accessibility”.
Benitez said the BacCHP will institutionalize the health assistance he envisioned for Bacolodnons.
Three private hospitals in Bacolod, so far, have signed memoranda of agreement with the city government to admit BacCHP card holders without any deposit or other requirements.
These are the Metro Bacolod Hospital and Medical Center, South Bacolod General Hospital and Medical Center, and the Bacolod Queen of Mercy Hospital.
The ordinance establishing the guidelines and procedures in availing of the BacCHP, which has an initial allocation of P80 million, was authored by Councilor Kalaw Puentevella, chairperson of the Sangguniang Panlungsod Committee on Health, and passed by the SP on Dec. 7.
Puentevella earlier said the P50 million funding will be sourced from the 2023 general budget of the city government, while the remaining P30 million will come from other sources, like the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation./CGC
