Baguio hospitals rue Bayanihan 1 fines

BAGUIO CITY -- Private and public hospitals here appealed to the Dept. of Health to reconsider the imposition of P20,000 in fines each for failing to allocate 30 and 20 percent of their respective bed capacities to Covid-19 patients.
    Said hospitals were found in violation of the bed allocation for Covid-19 patients under Republic Act (RA) 11494 or the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act.
    The law orders private hospitals to reserve 30 percent and public medical centers 20 percent of their bed capacities to Covid patients.
    During a meeting organized by the city with concerned government agencies and public and private hospital officials, Mayor Benjamin Magalong Jr. said the imposition of the penalties is ill-advised because of many factors beyond the control of said medical facilities.
    The penalties might result or aggravate the problems rather than provide solutions, he said.
    Owners of some private hospitals claimed their operational expenses have doubled because of the pandemic and they had to hire more workers to handle Covid and non-Covid cases.
    They also pointed at added expenses of securing personal protective equipment and other medical supplies, thus the fines would burden them some more.
    Likewise, a number of private hospitals said they were forced to limit the number of rooms and beds to sustain their operations. They said paying the fines would be more tenable than operating rooms and incurring more losses just to keep in step with Bayanihan 1’s requirements.
    The hospitals also balked at delayed reimbursements from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), causing them heavy financial losses.
    In response, PhilHealth representatives averred that the delay in reimbursements emanated from inaccurate and incomplete entries in documents.
    In his meeting with hospital officials, Magalong offered the use of Dormitory 2 of its Laurel facility as an isolation center for health workers who contracted Covid-19 and are either asymptomatic or are showing mild symptoms.
    He said sending less severe cases to the Laurel dormitory will free up valuable hospital resources for treating severe coronavirus cases.
    Earlier, Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) allocated 180 of its 600-bed capacity for Covid cases, equivalent to the prescribed beds patients pursuant to the law.
    BGHMC and St. Louis University Hospital of the Sacred Heart said they have been compliant with Bayanihan 1’s hospital bed allocations.