Duterte due on Feb. 12 for Malasakit Center

One of the reasons President Rodrigo Duterte will visit Cebu on Monday, Feb. 12, will be to unveil a patients’ assistance center in the region’s largest public hospi- tal. The Malasakit Center in the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center will help ensure that poor patients’ hospital bills are all covered.

Malasakit Center will be a one-stopshop in VSMMC where patients can get financial help for their hospital needs. Dino said that President Duterte wants poor patients to be discharged from the hospital with zero obligations.

President Rodrigo Duterte will unveil the marker of a Malasakit Center in the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VCMMC) in Cebu City on Feb. 12.

The center will be Duterte’s Valentine’s Day gift to the people in the region, said Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino, who designed the facility.

Dino told Sunstar Cebu that the center will be a one-stopshop at VCMMC where poor patients can get help in paying their obligations to the hospital.

He said that President Duterte has expressed concern for patients in government facilities who have a hard time paying for their medical and hospital needs.

Dino said that the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) will be involved in extending aid to indigent patients.

The participation of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. is still being negotiated, Dino said.

Dino said Philhealth will be the first to cover the poor patients’ financial obligations to the hospital. If the Philhealth funds will reach its cap, the patients can seek help from DSWD, PCSO and DOH for the balance.

“The intention here is that poor patients shall be discharged from VSMMC without obligation, even one peso. This is the intention of President Duterte,” Dino told Sunstar Cebu. /