MANILA, Philippines — While hospitals can charge its patients for the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), it cannot ask patients to pay for using donated PPEs, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that charging a patient for PPE use is allowed under DOH Memorandum 2020-0269 and that DOH has an inventory of facilities that received PPE donations.
“It is strictly prohibited that they [hospitals] charge PPEs kapag ito ay donated sa kanila,” she said in an online forum.
“We have that inventory na kapag donated itong PPEs dito sa facilities na ito para ma-monitor namin,” she added.
Vergeire added that hospitals can only charge patients up to 30% of the administrative cost of the hospital’s purchase of PPEs.
Administrative costs include the accommodation of the patient — whether they are in hospital wards or in intensive care units — and the number of health care workers and their shifts.
“The allowable amount to recover the administrative cost of the PPE is 30% of the total cost,” Vergeire said.
As of September 27, the number of COVID-19 cases reached 304,226 with 252,510 recoveries and 5,344 deaths.