PCSO sees more help desks in provinces

THE PHILIPPINE Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) is planning to set up help desks in at least 23 hospitals in the Visayas and Mindanao to make it easier for indigents to avail themselves of PCSO assistance.

The PCSO led a dialogue in Cebu City recently seeking to introduce to hospitals the At Source and Processing (Asap) program that would set up help desks in partner hospitals for patients in need of PSCO help.

The initiative comes almost a year after the program was introduced in 14 hospitals in Metro Manila.

Jose Ferdinand Rojas, PCSO vice chair and general manager, said that through Asap, indigents would find a “more convenient, easy and speedy” way to avail themselves of assistance from the PCSO.

Convenience

Rojas said indigents in need of hospitalization, dialysis, medicines and medical services may submit applications at the help desk instead of visiting a PCSO office.

“This makes it more convenient and easier for them to submit their requests for help,” Rojas said in a statement.

He said the PCSO help desk is manned by the hospital’s social worker, who is trained by the PCSO in request evaluation and recommendation.