By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora
MANILA – The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) has approved the expansion of its Z benefit package to cover orthopedic services for the victims of the magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck Cebu on Sept. 30.
Department of Health (DOH) Assistant Secretary Albert Domingo made the announcement in an interview on the sidelines of the “PinaSigla: Isang Flex para sa Masiglang Pilipinas!” national health fair launch at Rizal Park in Manila on Saturday.
He said the PhilHealth Board of Directors approved the expansion of benefits during its formal meeting on Friday.
“Basta ang pasyente ay biktima o ang kanyang injury ay nanggaling doon sa lindol, aftershocks included, sasagutin po ng PhilHealth ‘yung ortho (As long as the patient is a victim or his injury was a result of the earthquake, aftershocks included, PhilHealth will cover the ortho),” he said.
“Marami po sa mga kaso ay nabalian, nabagsakan, naputol ang bahagi ng katawan at ang kailangan ay ‘yung mga implants, which is usually mahal. Sasagutin po ‘yan ng PhilHealth (Many of the patients suffered broken bones or have body parts cut off. What is needed are implants, which are usually expensive. PhilHealth will cover that) until the state of calamity is lifted for the particular incident,” he added.
The zero balance billing, he said, is also in place in the three DOH hospitals operating across Cebu.
DOH’s earthquake response is continuous on the ground, with additional mental health specialists to be deployed to the province.
“DOH will take care of the mental health part — mayroon tayong Mental Health and Psychosocial Service team na ide-deploy sa Cebu province on a rotational basis para iyon ang mag-aasikaso doon sa mental health (we have a Mental Health and Psychosocial Service team that will be deployed to Cebu province on a rotational basis to take care of mental health aspect there),” he said.
“Pero mayroon na tayong teams na nandoon, ‘yung ating mga health emergency response teams and mayroon naman silang capabilities (But we already have our health emergency response teams there and they are capable of providing initial crisis intervention),” he added. (PNA)
