Prov’l hospitals fill lack of health centers for vets

Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC). INQUIRER file photo

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—While the Department of National Defense (DND) waits for funds to build veterans’ hospitals in the provinces, government and private hospitals are being tapped so that the country’s veterans and their spouses can avail themselves of medical services without going to Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City.

The partnership with 599 PhilHealth-accredited hospitals that are run by local governments and private companies will improve the access of World War II veterans and retired soldiers and their relatives to health programs, said Dr. Dominador Ching Jr., VMMC chief of professional staff.

“Only a few could manage to come to VMMC … Our ultimate goal is to build veterans’ hospitals in the regions,” Ching said.

Diosdado Macapagal Provincial Hospital and 10 district hospitals in Pampanga province have been tapped to help the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) and VMMC in serving the veterans.

Pampanga has 460 veterans, 804 retirees and surviving spouses, according to PVAO records.

On Monday, at least 896 of them showed up for registration and to join a medical mission. Ching assured them that reimbursing payments from PhilHealth would be “fast, taking only a week at the least.”

Venancio Kabigting, 96, a former guerrilla in the command of the late President Manuel L. Quezon, said traveling from his hometown of Arayat in Pampanga to VMMC would be too taxing.

“VMMC is far. It is especially too far for veterans in far-flung provinces,” Kabigting said.

Francisco Cabuhat of Candaba town said he was disappointed that VMMC’s CT scan was not working when he took his wife Marina there for a test two months ago.

Ching said cataract surgery, angiogram, coronary angioplasty, heart bypass, colonoscopy, CT scan, dialysis and kidney transplant are among those that can be reimbursed from VMMC.

Aside from getting supplies of maintenance medicines, veterans can also receive subsidy worth P1,500-P10,000 a day of confinement, he said.

At least 43 PhilHealth-accredited hospitals have signed memorandums of agreement with the PVAO and VMMC.