Issue No. 67 - November to December 2011 - DOH

(P32,000); essential hypertension (P9,000),cerebral infarction cerebro-vascular accidenthemorrhage 1 (P28,000); cerebro-vascularaccident hemorrhage 2 (P38,000); acutegastroenteritis (P6,000); asthma (P9,000);typhoid fever (P14,000); and newborn carepackage in hospitals and lying-in clinics(P1,750).On the other hand, the surgicalprocedures include radiotherapy (P3,000 persession); hemodialysis (P4,000 per session);maternity care package (P8,000) coupledwith the normal spontaneous delivery (NSD)Package in Level 1 (P8,000) and Levels 2to 4 hospitals (P6,500); caesarian section(P19,000); appendectomy (P24,000);cholecystectomy (P31,000); dilatationand curettage (P11,000); thyroidectomy(P31,000); herniorrhaphy (P21,000);mastectomy (P22,000); hysterectomy(P30,000); and cataract surgery (P16,000).This is much different from the originalscheme of PhilHealth which was to payfor services where rates were based on thecategory of hospital, length of stay at thehospital, kind of illness and complications,among others.An added feature to the new caserates scheme is the “no balance billing forNHTS-PR PhilHealth members admitted ingovernment hospitals for these conditions.This is why Ona encourages indigents to goto government hospitals instead because thescheme does not cover private hospitals.The Private Hospitals Associationof the Philippines (PHAP) was up in armsover new regulations and warned thatpatients’ bills would go up. They alsothreatened to remove themselves from thelist of PhilHealth-accredited hospitals.In an ABS CBN news report, Dr.Rustico Jimenez, PHAP president, was quotedas saying, “Ang dengue, tests pa lang ubos naang P8,000. Paano pa yung professional feesng mga duktor? Ang tatamaan nito yungordinaryong tao.”DOH and PhilHealth maintainedtheir position saying that they have to puta ceiling on payments to protect the fundsof members and ensure hospitals do notovercharge.Also in September, the DOH andPhilHealth announced its public-privateinitiative to encourage more people tobecome part of PhilHealth and to assistPhilHealth in improving its services.Members are now entitled to discounts formedicines and other health services in someparticipating pharmacies and shops.5 Plight of the ‘Nightingales’In December 2010, Dr. LeahPaquiz, founding president of “Ang Nars”told ABS CBN “Bandila” that the governmentshould look into the practice of hospitalsthat require registered nurses to pay fortheir training. She revealed, “Nag-o-onthe-jobtraining (OJT) volunteerism, sila paang nagbabayad, tapos ‘yung certificate,hindi naman po siya qualified magingemployment certificate.” Paquiz also saidmore than 500,000 nurses in the country areeither jobless or underemployed.The news report also showedinterviews of partly-hidden nurses narratingtheir sad plight and showing proofs ofpayment they made as volunteer nurses inundisclosed hospitals.On the other hand, GMA newsreported Dr. Rustico A. Jimenez, presidentof the 600-member Private HospitalsAssociation of the Philippines (PHAP), assaying his organization has asked volunteernurses and their supporters to showevidence so they can investigate the issue.He said, “If we cannot see any written proofsuch as receipts or contracts, we cannot actaccordingly,” Jimenez said. “We want to seecontracts that say nurses were made to workin a hospital and yet were even asked topay instead of the hospitals paying for theirservices rendered.”Nevertheless, in the first halfof January, the legislators were quickto investigate the sad plight of nurses,particularly on some OJT nurses who arereportedly made to pay between P5,000 toas much as P10,000 for their certification inthe course of their “training period” or “workexperience” with a hospital, which may lastfrom 6 weeks to 8 months.On January 17, the Department ofHealth, in coordination with the Departmentof Labor and Employment (DOLE) andthe Department of Social Welfare andDevelopment (DSWD), announced the startof recruitment of 10,000 registered nursesfor its “RNheals” program. RNheals, anacronym for Registered Nurses for HealthEnhancement And Local Service, is expectedto address the shortage of skilled andexperienced nurses in 1,221 rural and farflungcommunities.Nurses would undergo trainingand development, and a certificate ofcompetency and employment will be givenby the DOH, DSWD, and the ProfessionalRegulation Commission – Board of Nursingto those who will satisfactorily completerequirements. While on deployment, thenurses would be given an allowance ofP8,000 a month by the DOH while the localgovernment unit where they are assignedshall supervise them, ensure their safetyand security, and provide modest boardand lodging. LGUs were also encouraged toprovide additional allowances and benefitsNovember - December 2011 I HEALTHbeat 39