Free dialysis hurdles committee
FREE dialysis in the country may soon be a reality.
Baguio City Representative Marquez Go in a special Kapihan said House Bill 5503 was recently approved by the committee on appropriations after nine other lawmakers filed the same law with three filing a resolution of support for those who are sick and undergoing dialysis treatment.
"We had a technical working group regarding matter where we discussed the contents of the bill which led to the formulation of a substitute bill which we approved in our committee. This substitute bill having three
aspects focuses on dialysis patients having two to three times of dialysis treatment to undergo kidney transplant, hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis," said Go.
Once the bill is passed in both houses of congress, PhilHealth and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office will be tasked to support this bill which will have a specific budget.
"This bill once passed will now task government hospitals to have their own dialysis treatment center using the specific budget to be given to Philhealth and PCSO," Go added.
Dra. Virginia Mangati, head of the dialysis center of Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center reported 417 dialysis patients for 2018 are curently under their care.
Mangati added BGHMC has a daily average of four to six patients coming not only from the Cordillera region, but from region's 1,2 and 3 indicating 100 percent increase in dialysis cases as compared to six years ago.
"We are hoping the bill would soon pass in both houses of congress for BGHMC to have an additional 70 dialysis machines, aside from its current 30 machines which would continue to provide the quality treatment with the cheapest cost," Mangati said.
City Council Committee Chairman on Education Peter Fianza relayed to dialysis patients the council’s allocation of P9,000,000 for BGHMC with each of the councilors having their local official medical assistance program particularly for dialysis patients.
At present, the oldest dialysis patient in BGHMC is at 98 while the youngest is 13.
"Even if we see a possible increase in dialysis cases at present, we have observed a prolonged life span for these patients as compared to in the past due to the quality treatment which we apply, and the additional support they receive," Mangati added.