Cagayan Valley gov’t hospital improving says PhilHealth offical

By Benjamin Moses M. Ebreo

Tuesday 14th of August 2012

SOLANO, Nueva Vizcaya, Aug 14 (PIA) -- The status of state hospitals in Cagayan Valley is now improving with the implementation of the Universal Health Program.

“We are glad to note that government hospitals in the region are now competing with private hospitals due to the developing standards of services and their other resources,” said Oscar Abadu, PhilHealth regional vice president.

He cited the Nueva Vizcaya Provincial Hospital (NVPH) in Barangay Almaguer North in Bambang town, the Veterans Regional Hospital (VRH) in Barangay Magsaysay in Bayombong town and the Cagayan Valley Medical Center in Tuguegarao City as emerging model health care centers of PhilHealth.

These hospitals, Abadu said, have improved their services in terms of availability of medicines and state-of-the-art facilities.

He said that while the accessibility of medicines is not yet fully complete in the said hospitals, the number of available medicines for patients are now increasing.

“There is a need for the synchronization of efforts among concerned agencies inorder to fully improve the quality of medical health care and service of government hospitals in the region,” Abadu said.

He also stressed that management of PhilHealth payments among members has also been improved, leading to their consistent compliance on zero-billing policy.

Dr. Edwin Galapon, NVPH chief also said that the provincial government which operates their hospital is trying to improve the procurement system for medicines so that it can address the need for 52 health cases or sickness by 2013.

“The problem lies on the tedious process of procurement of medicines thereby affecting the availability of such when the need arises,” he said.

The VRH, he said has also 99 percent of available medicines for PhilHealth members at present. (BME/PIA 2-Nueva Vizcaya)