House Health panel okays free dialysis for indigents

THE House Committee on Health has approved a bill that seeks to grant free dialysis treatment for indigent patients.

The panel approved the unnumbered measure that mandates all government hospitals to establish, operate, and maintain a dialysis service facility and provide free dialysis treatment to the poor.

The bill, a consolidation of House Bills 621, 2466, 3924, 4391 and 5503, also provides for the establishment of affordable and accessible kidney transplant facilities in strategic areas across the country.

“The measure was crafted to improve the delivery of healthcare services to patients with ESRD and encourage them to have a kidney transplant,” Rep. Angelina Tan of Quezon, chairman of the House Committee on Health, said in a statement.

“We believe that the sub- stitute bill acknowledges two things: one, that health is something that the ordinary Filipino could not afford, and two, that the government is scrimping on health budget despite the desperate need of our people,” Rep. Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna, one of the authors, said.

“The price of the dialysis treatment is a price very few can afford. We filed this measure knowing that lives hang in the balance. We call for the immediate passage of this bill because the government should decisively act on the worsening renal diseases in the country exacerbated by worsening poverty,“Zarate added.

The other authors of the measure are Reps. Joseph Stephen Paduano of Abang Lingkod party-list, Arthur Yap of Bohol, Alfredo Vargas 3rd of Quezon City and Mark Go of Baguio City.