‘LIMIT BENEFICIARIES OF FREE MEDICINES TO 45,000’

The office handling Cebu City’s Long Life Medical Assistance Program wants to increase the number of beneficiaries but the lack of funds make it difficult

There are 45,000 beneficiaries at present and 10,000 more are on the waiting list; They may have to wait longer due to the rising cost of medicines

To make its medical program more sustainable, the Cebu City Government might have to shelve its plan to expand the coverage of the Long Life Medical Assistance Program (LLAMP).

The matter was discussed during the City Council committee on budget and finance’s deliberation last Nov. 5 on the proposed P8.1-billion budget for 2019.

Of the amount, P150 million was allocated for the purchase of maintenance medicines under LLAMP.

The draft budget of P150 million, though, will only cover the purchase of medicines from January to July 2019.

Roseline Verano, LLAMP head, said the program caters to around 45,000 beneficiaries at present. They plan to expand so more people can receive daily maintenance medicine from the City Government.

“We plan to gradually add more beneficiaries. There are 10,000 patients on the waiting list so far,” she said.

At least 66,711 maintenance medicines are distributed daily by the LLAMP, but the prices of these medicines have increased, according to Verano.

As a result, Long Life was not able to distribute the medicines daily from January to August because there were days when they were short of supply.

Because of this, Councilor Margarita Osmeña, head of the committee on budget and finance, suggested maintaining the number of beneficiaries to 45,000 in the meantime.

“Maintenance medicine has to be taken every day, right? If they can’t take it every day, it’s useless. Why don’t we wait until we can keep the service every day?” she said during the budget hearing.

The same observation was raised by Osmeña when the program’s funds were tackled during the budget hearing for the 2018 annual budget last year.

At that time, Osmeña said the program’s rate of expansion was “so fast” but the budget couldn’t keep up.

To ensure sustainability, she suggested making the public understand that the program can only cater to qualified beneficiaries.

Deliberations on the proposed budget of other departments will continue this week.