Tagbilaran Residents Enjoy Free Hospitalization
The Mayor is bent on making Tagbilaran City a healthy community. Last September 2006, Mayor Dan Neri Lim with the able assistance of Dr. Porticos launched the Blue Card program, a project which gives free hospitalization to the indigents of the City. The mayor proposed the idea to the City Council which readily made an Ordinance creating the Project and allocated 4 million pesos to jumpstart the advocacy.
They began by conducting a survey in the city to identify indigent patients thru the Poverty Alleviation Program, those identified were then recruited in the program. The projects works like a medical insurance, your hospital bills are covered, including the professional fees of the doctor, laboratory examinations and preliminary medicines. The big difference is you will not be paying a monthly premium; all these benefits will be yours for free as long as your annual income does not exceed 40,000 pesos; you’re a resident of Tagbilaran City for at least five years and a voter duly registered in the Comelec.
There are three hospitals which were accredited in the program, the Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital, the Coop Hospital and IngleWood. But in case of extreme emergencies when the patient is readily confined in another hospital, they will justify the situation and still cover your hospital bills.
One recipient is Mr. Rosario Magabilin. He has a Heart problem and needs to be confined the soonest possible time. He’s 82 years old and has no fixed income.Fortunately, his daughter Divina applied him in the Blue Card program. He was admitted for four days at IngleWood Hospital and was treated accordingly. Cured of his sickness, Mr. Magabilin was overjoyed because he didn’t spend any centavo. But then again another sickness plagued him. This time a serious skin disease. His whole body swelled and went numb. He was again taken to the hospital and was treated for three days free of charge. After which, he got free antibiotics and vitamins from Botika sa Katawhan. Quoting Mr. Magabilin: “Sobrang pasalamat ko kay Mayor sa malaking tulong na naibigay sa akin ng Blue Card. Gusto ko syang puntahan sa City Hall para personal na magpasalamat, pero dahil matanda na ako, hindi ko na magawang pumunta.”
As of now, the Blue Card program has 3000 recipients. The City Government is now exploring the possibility of tying up the program with Philhealth. In this way, the City Government’s fund allocation for the project would not be exhausted.
Another option was to upgrade a certain hospital to accommodate the program. Mayor Lim already conducted preliminary talks, he discussed plans of infusing government funds to the Provincial Hospital. The funds would be used to upgrade and procure equipment so that it could better serve their Blue Card holders. If this happens, the government can have a share in the hospital earnings which could help in the sustainability of the Blue Card project.
According to Dr. Porticos, the director of the Blue Card project: “This is one of the best innovation or procedure that we could do to sustain our program.”
This entry was posted by jnet on Sunday, May 3rd, 2009 at 8:15 pm and is filed under Featured, Health Programs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Just a sample comment!
Congratulations with this program. This is a exemple for other cities to do something for their indigent residents.
Go on like this and I might get back my trust in the government.
Fantastic health program, Mayor Dan!
Development in action, not on paper, but concretely seen in the lives of constituents, especially in those long marginalized!
Keep up the good work, Mayor… and more!
All the best,
Maiet
40,000 per annum is approx. 3600 per month which will be divided into 180 in 20 working days.
How much is the minimum wage in Tagbilaran City again?
wow! its nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hi. i am from Dumaguete City and i heard about what your mayor is doing in your city. I am blessed. what mrs. yap, a senior citizen, shared to me about your program is indeed true. it is a blessing! may God continue to bless u all and keep u.