GIVING THE POOR BETTER ACCESS TO HEALTH SERVICES

THROUGH the years Lingap Para sa Mahirap program of the city government of Davao has been a partner of the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) in giving medical care to the patients not only of Davao City but anyone in need.

"Majority sa among gina-cater patients from SPMC, in-patient, emergency room patients, out patients nato like maintenance sa senior citizens nagahatag ta ug hinabang monthly (Majority of the patients we cater are from SPMC, in patient and the emergency room patients, out patients such as senior citizens, we also give them monthly assistance)," said Lingap Para sa Mahirap in-charge Josephine Mitaran.

Lingap Para sa Mahirap attends to an average of 300 patients daily for medicine assistance, laboratory, hospital bill assistance, and assistance for blood especially for cancer patients.

"Diri sa SPMC una nag-coordinate mi sa hospital for the assistance and we send guarantee letter (At spmc, we coordinate with the hospital for the assistance and we send a guarantee letter for the patient),” she said. Lingap doesn’t cover the whole amount, but gives substantial share, like maybe a P5,000 bill will get a P2,000 assistance plus a guarantee letter.

Mitaran said these guarantee letters are honored by the hospital.

"So far we are thankful to SPMC because they accept the help that we extend for their patients. Sometimes they have their doubts but they always monitor and check with us," Mitaran added.

Mitaran added she is also thankful that SPMC is open to accept assistance from Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), Department of Social Welfare and Development, and Philippine Health Insurance Inc.

She attests to how SPMC does its best to cater to their patients.

"Kung baga nagacare sila ka kinabuhi sa tao labi na sa atong pasyente kaso lang dili nato malikayan tungod sa kadaghan ug pasyente so ginatan-aw nato unsa ang priority ‘tung emergency case kaayo mao jud na siya musabot lang pud gud mi sa SPMC hospital tungod sa kadaghang pasyente nga gina-cater medyo naglisud pud sila kumbaga ang ratio isa ka doctor 10 ka patient, pero makita namo nga naga-paningkamot jud pud sila nga matreat nila ang ilang patient (I saw how they care for the life of their patients. But sometimes we cannot avoid that because of the huge number of patients they also prioritize the emergency cases, which is the reason why we understand their situation where they also find a hard time in accommodating all their patients. The ratio of doctor to patient is at 1:10. We really saw that they are doing their best to treat their patients)," she added.

They are also thankful to the SPMC for giving them their own space, the building across the emergency room, thus making their location very accessible to the most distressed.

She added that SPMC has a commitment with the city to jointly construct a separate P25million building within the hospital premises for Lingap.

This building will house the Lingap Para sa Bayan One-Stop Shop that will house offices of PCSO, DSWD, Philhealth, and the Lingap Para sa Mahirap for the immediate assistance of SPMC patients.

Lingap Para sa Bayan, the national government counterpart of Lingap para sa Mahirap of Davao City, is temporarily housed in the same office as Lingap Para sa Mahirap. It had a soft opening last July.