PhilHealth still owes Iloilo City hospitals P521M

ILOILO CITY — Local hospitals dealing with a surge in cases of new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) have yet to collect P521 million from Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), according to Mayor Jerry Treñas.

Treñas, in an Aug. 3 letter to PhilHealth Western Visayas vice president, Valerie Anne Hollero, called the agency’s attention regarding the claims of seven private and two government hospitals.

These include Western Visayas Medical Center (P137 million), The Medical City Iloilo (P93 million), St. Paul’s Hospital Iloilo (P85.8 million), Iloilo Mission Hospital (P85 million), QualiMed Hospital Iloilo (P45 million), West Visayas State University Medical Center (P35 million), Medicus Medical Center (P30 million), Metro Iloilo Hospital and Medical Center (P9 million) and Iloilo Doctors’ Hospital (P1.18 million).

Hollero was among the PhilHealth officials who had taken a voluntary leave of absence while alleged irregularities in the agency were under investigation.

Dr. Genaline Aguirre, spokesperson for PhilHealth Western Visayas, said the agency would issue a statement on Friday.

Suspension

Several hospitals in the region earlier stopped admitting COVID-19 patients after reaching their capacity and due to exhaustion of their personnel amid a surge in cases. Some suspended the admission even of non-COVID-19 cases.

Isolation wards, which cater to mild cases, and COVID-19 wards for moderate to severe cases have reached critical levels of occupancy, according to the Department of Health (DOH) in Western Visayas.

COVID-19 cases in the region had reached 3,651 as of Aug. 25, according to a DOH report. Of these, 2,043 were active with 55 deaths and 1,533 recoveries.

Out of the 868 hospital beds dedicated to COVID-19 patients in private and government hospitals in the region, more than half or 489 had already been occupied as of Aug. 26, said Dr. Marie Jocelyn Te, a spokesperson for the DOH.

Iloilo City recorded the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Western Visayas, according to DOH records.

Reports also said that quarantine facilities for returning overseas Filipino workers (OFW) were not enough to accommodate arrivals.

Hotels serving as quarantine facilities in the city were full due to the delay in the release of test results of OFWs, according to local officials.