Gov’t spent P1.46B for COVID-19 patients

The administration has spent some P1.46 billion for COVID-19 patients and hired more than 12,700 health workers as the pandemic raged on, Malacañang said in its year-end report.

For 2021, the government has allocated P838 billion for COVID-19 related programs.

These are not just lodged with the Department of Health but are found across different departments, according to Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado.

The 2021 budget is meant to help the country rebound and recover from the effects of the pandemic, which battered the economy in 2020, Avisado said.

“We see there is hope,” Avisado said at the Laging Handa briefing.

The P1.46 billion that the government spent in 2020 represented the cost of in-patient services for 40,781 COVID-19 patients as of Dec. 10, Malacañang said in its report.

“As the health insurer of the nation, [Philippine Health Insurance Corp.] has continued to support the medical care needs of our citizens, securing the care they need especially during this pandemic,” the report said.

The administration has spent P297.39 million for reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction tests conducted by accredited COVID-19 testing facilities, covering 321,655 suspected cases.

It also paid P2.63 billion for COVID-19 tests conducted by the Philippine Red Cross on 725,399 suspected cases as of Dec. 10.

The Palace said the hiring of more 12,733 health workers allowed the government to care for COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients alike.