Overpriced IT equipment: Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson grills Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) officials on the purchase of overpriced IT equipment during the Committee of the Whole Tuesday hybrid inquiry, August 11, 2020, on the alleged irregularities at the PhilHealth. File photo / Joseph Vidal / Senate PRIB
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Health Insurance Corp.’s (PhilHealth) swift release of millions of COVID-related funds to B. Braun Avitum, a chain of dialysis centers, is not justifiable, Senator Panfilo Lacson said.
According to Lacson, B. Braun Avitum was able to receive a total of P45 million at “such record speed” through PhilHealth’s Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM) even if it “has not catered to a single COVID-19 patient.”
The IRM is an emergency cash advance measure of PhilHealth to provide hospitals with an emergency fund to respond to natural disasters, calamities as well as other unexpected events.
“[N]othing can justify the release of funds in the aggregate amount of at least P45 million to B. Braun Avitum Dialysis Center Inc. that has not catered to a single COVID-19 patient and with such record speed, compared to more deserving HCIs, especially government hospitals catering to COVID patients which up to now have not received any payment in relation to PhilHealth Circular 2020-0007, which is its specific intent and purpose,” Lacson said.
The senator is referring to the circular containing the guidelines on the provision of substantial aid to HCIs through the IRM.
Lacson’s pronouncements were in response to B. Braun Avitum’s statement maintaining that the company holds itself “strictly to the highest standards of integrity in all its business dealings” after it was linked to alleged irregularities in PhilHealth for being a “favored” health facility.
B. Braun Avitum also said it is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after Lacson said otherwise during Tuesday’s Senate hearing.
In response to this, Lacson said: “The Securities and Exchange Commission issued a certification which I read during last week’s hearing that B. Braun Avitum Dialysis Center Inc. is not registered as a corporation.”
“Unless they show their documents to the contrary and validated by SEC, I will have to stand by the government agency’s issued document,” he added.
But Lacson did note that he read into the records of the Committee of the Whole during the hearing on the SEC registration of B. Braun Medical Supplies Inc.
B. Braun Avitum, in its statement, said it is a “wholly-owned” subsidiary of B. Braun Medical Supplies, Inc.
Further, B. Braun Avitum said it is “one with the government in its quest for transparency and good governance,” saying it is willing to extend its “full cooperation in this endeavor.”