• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Mayor Alfredo Benitez is pushing for a P154 million allotment to “support the continuity and expansion” of the Bacolod City Comprehensive Health Program (BacCHP) in 2025, with 10,758 patients already served, as of this month.
The allocation increased by P100 million, from this year’s P54 million funding, and the initial P10 million when the program was launched in 2022.
The city said Nov. 28 that the more than 10,700 Bacolodnons served equaled to P100,457,735 in healthcare assistance.
BacCHP aims to provide free and quality healthcare to marginalized and underserved Bacolodnons, and covers a wide range of medical services, including consultations, hospitalization, laboratory procedures, and medicines, the city said.
All hospitals in Bacolod, like the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, Bacolod Adventist Medical Center, The Doctors’ Hospital, Riverside Medical Center, Metro Bacolod Hospital and Medical Center, South Bacolod General Hospital, and the Bacolod Queen of Mercy Hospital, are active partners of BacCHP, ensuring that a beneficiary needs only to present his or her card to be admitted and served.
The agreements with these hospitals complement the city’s BacCHP ordinance, authored by Councilor Claudio Jesus “Kalaw” Puentevella and passed by the Sangguniang Panlungsod in December 2022.
The ordinance sets the guidelines in the availment of the BacCHP, with P80 million in initial allocation.
Under the ordinance, a BacCHP cardholder shall be entitled to P15,000 health-related expenses.
As of this month, the city already issued 71,887 cards while 267,319 have registered as members.
The local government also received an additional P50 million from the Department of Health Nov. 5, also for BacCHP implementation, following the request of Benitez to cover rising healthcare outlays, or around P16 million a month, the city said.
“With increased support from the DOH, this program is expanding to fulfill our commitment to health for every Bacolodnon. This is a promise fulfilled, and it will continue serving you for years to come!” Benitez said in a statement. | CGC
