BACOLOD City – Hospitals in this city struggling with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic are also being burdened with Philippine Health Insurance Corp.’s (PhilHealth) nonpayment of their claims.
Due to the non-payment, hospitals are reporting staff shortages and precipitous decline in finances, according to Mayor Evelio Leonardia.
“Hospitalizations have hit record levels and although we have recently added additional rooms and beds, our Temporary Treatment and Monitoring Facilities are reaching full capacity,” said the mayor.
Leonardia also cited the struggle of healthcare workers. They are already exhausted “to the point of breaking”, he said.
REQUEST FOR MORE VACCINES
In a letter, Leonardia appealed to Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer and vaccine czar of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, for more anti-coronavirus shots.
“In behalf of our people therefore, I most respectfully and earnestly request that we be given additional vaccines to be able to accelerate the pace of vaccinations and to move through the priority groups more quickly,” read part of the letter.
According to the mayor, vaccination is a “crucial strategy in ending this pandemic.”
This city continues to roll out vaccines provided by the Department of Health.
As of July 2, a total of 68,954 received their doses of either the Sinovac or AstraZeneca vaccines, record of the Emergency Operations Center here showed.
Of the figure, 11,121 have already been completely (two doses) inoculated.
Under the city’s vaccination program, this city targets to vaccinate 68 percent of its total population, or 424,992 individuals.
Yesterday, some 10,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines arrived in this city./PN
