BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson expects the full implementation of the Universal Health Care (UHC) program in Negros Occidental by 2023.
With its full implementation, Lacson said he is hoping that more Negrenses will be helped by the UHC program that automatically enrolls all Filipinos in the national health insurance program being implemented by PhilHealth.
I hope we will have also better collections from PhilHealth in order to help our hospitals, he added.
The provincial government of Negros Occidental supervises 11 public hospitals in the province.
Asked what will happen to the Negros Occidental Comprehensive Health Program of the provincial government with respect to the full implementation of UHC next year, Lacson said “we will continue with that.”
NOCHP is a priority program of the provincial government of Negros Occidental that seeks to provide comprehensive health care to Negrosanons, with members and their qualified dependents entitled to free out-patient care in participating government hospitals in the province, including the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City.
All NOCHP members are entitled of a P5,000 yearly assistance for medication from the provincial government, on top of PhilHealth.
“I think it is still relevant to have that program,” Lacson responded, when asked if there a duplication in the implementation of NOCHP and UHC programs.
NOCHP was successfully implemented during the administration of the late Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr, and in the 3rd district of Negros Occidental, when Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez was congressman.
Benitez intends to duplicate the health program in Bacolod City, where he is currently the mayor.*
