corporatization plus philhealth: Aquino's lethal health formula- Ilagan

Gabriela Women’s Party Representative Luz Ilagan today criticized the 2013 national budget’s measly and misappropriated allocation for healthcare that fails to respond to the people’s needs. According to Ilagan, the Aquino Health Agenda as reflected in the proposed 2013 budget refuses to acknowledge the need to build and upgrade healthcare facilities and instead supports private and multinational intrusion into the delivery of healthcare service.

“The nominal increase in the health budget is largely due to the 12.6B allocation for the distribution of Philhealth cards for indigents. The budget does not in any way address the need to equip health centers and rural health units with working equipment and basic facilities like x-rays or ultrasound," said Ilagan who received reports that x-ray and ultrasound procedures in public hospitals like the Philippine General Hospital and the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Medical Center are being outsourced to private diagnostic clinics because of defective equipment.

"Government hospitals are being expected to find funds for equipment and facility repair, fend for themselves as they are being transformed into corporations. Indigent patients will not have no choice but to spend more for healthcare even as the Aquino government presents Philhealth as a panacea to the healthcare crisis. What will poor families do with a Philhealth card when government hospitals cannot address their basic needs for lack of facilities?” said Ilagan.

The Gabriela solon explained, “The Aquino government is implementing a program that leaves the delivery of healthcare in the hands of big businesses. Philhealth is a profit-driven insurance company that will provide meager amounts for illnesses whose diagnosis and treatment can amount to five to ten times the ceiling that it sets. This is a scenario that is expected to worsen as government hospitals start to increase laboratory, confinement and treatment fees with corporatization.”

At present, corporatized hospitals like the Philippine Heart Center (PHC) and the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) charge as much as P415 to P430 for a chest x-ray respectively while the Jose Reyes Medical Center (JRMC) and the Rizal Medical Center, both of which are among the 26 hospitals being targeted for corporatization charge only P290 to P310 for the same.#