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Kidapawan LGU to subsidize Covid-19 patients in hospitals

The city government starting Wednesday will provide financial subsidy to moderate and severe Covid-19 patient-residents confined in various hospitals here.

Mayor Joseph Evangelista said the program is intended for all moderate and severe cases of patients – indigent, low-, middle-, and upper-income earners of the city – who will be confined in all partner medical facilities.

“This is for our residents that are infected by Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) virus who needs concentrated care at the medical facilities, and are struggling due to financial constraints,” Evangelista said.

He added that Covid-infected indigents and the low- to middle-income earners are each entitled to PHP100,000 medical assistance, while PHP50,000 would be extended to each of upper-income earning patients.

“This is also incorporated to the One Hospital Command System (OHCS) of the provincial government as a partnership of the city government and the hospitals here,” he said.

On Tuesday, Evangelista and hospital administrators signed the memorandum of agreement for the partnership at the City Hall here.

The partner facilities include the local government unit-run Kidapawan City Hospital; the privately-operated Kidapawan Doctors Hospital, Inc.; Kidapawan Midway Hospital, Inc.; Madonna Medical Center; and the Kidapawan Medical Specialist Center.

He said the same intervention has been established since the start of the pandemic last year in the two government Covid-19 referral hospitals in Mindanao – the Cotabato Regional Medical Center in Cotabato City, and the Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao city.

Meanwhile, Evangelista said the Covid-19 bed capacity utilization rate in hospitals here has climbed to 79 percent, which is considered a “high-risk” category based on the Department of Health guidelines.

“This is the reason why we need to accredit and partner with the hospitals through this scheme to cater to our less fortunate constituents in their facility,” he said

Source: Philippines News Agency