CAGAYAN de Oro Acting City Health Officer Dr. Lorraine Nery said the Covid-19 testing capacity in the city depends on the individual laboratories and will not be affected by the recent issue between the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).
“Ang testing capacity, it really depends naman pud sa individual laboratory kon unsa gyud ang ilahang ibutang nga testing capacity like sa NMMC (Northern Mindanao Medical Center), naa man silay gibutang gyud nga testing capacity. For private laboratories, dili man pud gakaabot sa ceiling,” Nery said.
“Para sa ako, dili man siguro basihan ang katong ilaahang isue with the PhilHealth for the number of their testing capacity,” she added.
On October 15, PRC announced it has stopped testing PhilHealth beneficiaries for Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, because PhilHealth has yet to pay over P930 million in reimbursement claims.
The PRC said they had to make the difficult decision to stop tests chargeable to PhilHealth because they need funds to replenish the testing kits for its laboratories.
“I know Red Cross nisulti sila nga 2,000 ang ilang testing capacity per day, but ang sa actual nga run karon nila, sa ako lang nahibaw-an, dili man gyud pud kaabot ana nga number ang nagasulod sa ilaha per day,” Nery said.
“And the same thing sa gakahitabo sa atong other private nga mga testing laboratories,” she added.
City Mayor Oscar Moreno, for his part, said he does not wish to encroach on “how thing should be done by others,” adding that everyone knows the current situation of PhilHealth.
“Everybody knows nga ang sitwasyon karon sa PhilHealth is not ingon ta fully operational. Ang PhilHealth karon is undergoing reorganization and in any reorganization, naa gyuy mga gaps, so I will not be surprised nga naay delays sa payment sa PhilHealth,” Moreno said.
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