Landmark agreement on ‘no deposit’ in hospitals inked

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The government’s health services firm, PhilHealth, along with the Department of Health (DOH) and the local government unit here, have signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) yesterday with this city’s private hospitals to implement the “No Deposit Policy,” the first in the country.

Datu Masiding Alonto Jr., PhilHealth assistant vice president for Mindanao, signed the MOA with Carlo Franco Thomas Limjoco of the DOH Center for Health Development in Region 10, City Mayor Oscar Moreno and Dr. Maria Lourdes Gaane, chairperson of the City Council’s Committee on Health, along with representatives from the city’s six private hospitals.

Signing for the private sector were Dr. Jesus Jardin, medical director of Capitol University Medical Center; Dexter Garcia, administrative officer, Cagayan de Oro Medical Center; Dr. Miguel Kho, medical director of Madonna and Child Hospital; Sister Mercy Corazon Bangot of Maria Reyna-Xavier University Hospital; and Michael Sabal, Office-in-ChargePresident of Sabal Hospital.

Alonto heaped praise on these private hospitals as they paved the way for the signing of the MOA, which, he said, was the first of its kind in the Philippines that will implement Republic Act (RA) 10932, or the Anti-Hospital Deposit Law.

RA 10932 states that “in emergency or serious cases, it shall be unlawful for any hospital or medical clinic to request, solicit, demand or accept any depositor any other form of advance payment as prerequisite for administering basic emergency care, for confinement or medical treatment, or to refuse to administer medical treatment and support to any patient.”

Alonto said the signatory-private hospitals even went beyond the “emergency case provision” of RA 10932 by committing to accept patients not considered in an emergency situation.

“While it is true that the law is there, our private hospitals in Cagayan de Oro went the extra mile of extending assistance to our (PhilHealth) members even if it’s not an emergency,” Alonto said.