‘Buy from other pharma outlets’

JONALYN Barguio tried to get some antibiotics for her ailing son at the Pro-Poor Pharmacy along B. Rodriguez Street, Cebu City.

A first-time beneficiary of the City Hospitalization Assistance and Medicine Program (Champ), Jonalyn was dismayed that she was turned down like others before her.

In an interview outside the Champ office, Jonalyn, a resident of barangay Basak, Cebu City, said she needed medicine for her son’s fever.

Instead, she and other beneficiaries were advised by Champ chief Henry Sanchez to go to Dell Pharmacy in front of the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) and Dominique Pharmacy in B. Rodriguez in front of Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).

Pro-Poor Pharmacy and its sister Pro-Inay Pharmacy recently stopped giving free medicines to Champ beneficiaries.

The boticas pulled out of the Champ program after the city government failed to pay for P11-million worth of medicines it procured from them.

Sanchez said he received many complaints from beneficiaries who frequent Pro-Poor and Pro-Inay pharmacies.

Mayor Michael Rama said City Hall will settle its bill once they complete all documentary requirements set by the Commission on Audit (COA).

“They will be paid but the problem is the government is slow to release the (documents and) payments,” the mayor said in Cebuano.

The owners of Pro-Poor and Pro-Inay pharmacies, Myra Rentuza and her husband St. Bernard Mayor Rico Rentuza of Southern Leyte, decided to suspend their service until the city government settles their bills with them.

Myra said she hopes the city government completes the COA requirements so they can receive the payments.

Councilor Jose Daluz III, who chairs the City Council finance committee, said they don’t have a date on when they will finish with the COA requirements.

He said they are having a hard time recovering the prescriptions of each beneficiary as required by COA.

Rama said a “missing link” in the policies of both COA and the City Accounting Office results in a delay in the processing of documents.

“The COA works differently while the City Accounting Office also has a different orientation,” he said.

The mayor said such delays are experienced even during the tenure of his predecessor, Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district.

He said despite these problems, the city government will continue implementing Champ. With Doris C. Bongcac, Chief of Reporters