• CHERYL G. CRUZ
About 31,000 Bacolod City Comprehensive Health Program (BacCHP) cards have been issued by the city government to indigent Bacolodnons since March last year, and 1,314 beneficiaries served in five partner-hospitals from May 1 to Jan. 28 this year.
Engr. Mae Cuaycong, BacCHP focal person and special assistant to Mayor Alfredo Benitez, told the Negros NOW Daily Jan. 30 that a Bacolodnon, who needs immediate hospital admission but does not yet have a BacCHP card, could seek assistance from the liaison officer assigned in the accredited hospital.
The partner-hospitals include the government-run Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, and private health facilities Bacolod Queen of Mercy Hospital, South Bacolod General Hospital, Riverside Medical Center Inc., and the Bacolod Adventist Medical Center.
The Doctors’ Hospital, the fifth and latest private medical institution to partner with the Bacolod City government, will start serving BacCHP cardholders on Feb. 15, from the initially announced Feb. 1 rollout.
This brief extension sought by The Doctors’ Hospital “will be utilized for meticulous preparations, ensuring a smooth and effective rollout of BacCHP,” the city said Jan. 31, adding that its unwavering commitment, alongside that of hospital partners, to Bacolodnons well-being remains steadfast.
“We are diligently working to ensure that all systems are in place for us to fulfill this commitment,” it stressed.
Benitez had said that under this flagship health program of his administration, accredited private hospitals will no longer ask for a down payment from BacCHP cardholders availing of services in their facilities.
Each cardholder is entitled to P15,000, provided that the city funds shall be used only after exhausting PhilHealth benefits and other government healthcare grants or assistance, as per the BacCHP ordinance passed by the Sangguniang Panlungsod in December 2022.
Due to this limitation, the SP approved an appropriation ordinance reverting P22 million from the unobligated balances of the BacCHP Special Purpose Appropriation for 2023 to the CMO’s Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses, specifically P12 million as Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation, and P10 million for other MOOE.
Cuaycong said that only about P20 million of the P50 million BacCHP allocation was used in 2023.
This year, the city earmarked P54 million for BacCHP.
Benitez, meanwhile, scheduled a health summit this March, and encouraged all hospitals participating in BacCHP to join.
The summit will serve as a proactive measure to address challenges faced by each partner-hospital in the implementation of BacCHP. It also aims to pave the way for Bacolod to have the best healthcare in Negros Occidental, the city earlier said. | CGC
