MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte tasked the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to file criminal charges against officials who were involved in the “ghost” dialysis scandal.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said Duterte ordered PhilHealth “to institute criminal actions against those officials and employees who wittingly or unwittingly allowed such misuse of funds to take place for years.”
“All persons involved in the alleged fraud will be prosecuted and face accountability. They shall reap the harshest penalty imposed by law. Nothing can shield them from prosecution and punishment,” Panelo said.
Panelo added PhilHealth chief Dr. Roy Ferrer was ordered to submit to the President a “detailed report” on the irregularities hounding the agency.
“We will put a stop to this corruption and we will make sure that the law on universal health care is strictly enforced,” Panelo said.
Corruption allegations against PhilHealth surfaced after a former employee of a dialysis center in Quezon City revealed a “ghost dialysis” scheme used to make fraudulent claims to the government health insurance firm.
Ferrer said a supposed “mafia” within PhilHealth has to be blamed for the difficulties in investigating such schemes since they allegedly contradict the management’s efforts to cleanse the agency’s ranks amid reports of fraud and corruption./PN
