PCSO to open hospital help desks

MANILA, Philippines–To better facilitate the growing number of requests for medical and health-related assistance, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) will set up early this year 25 help desks in metro hospitals and open six provincial branches.

PCSO assistant general manager for charity Larry Cedro told the Inquirer that since the congressional Priority Development Assistance Fund had been suspended and declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, the agency had “felt the influx of people seeking medical assistance.”

Last year, Cedro said the agency assisted more than 50,000 dialysis patients and helped augment the hospitalization bills of more than 80,000 patients. Both sectors were up by 10,000 patients from 2013.

With the help desks, he said the public need not go to the agency’s head office in Mandaluyong City to seek assistance. “It’s part of [our] decentralization [efforts] and to [provide easy] access to individuals.”