This was what House Resolution 2588, filed by Bayan Muna Representative Teddy Casi帽o, sought to do despite the Department of Health鈥檚 clarification that the charity wards in state-run hospitals will not be totally removed.
He said that charity wards should be kept since even PhilHealth members or those sponsored by the government are forced聽to pay for their hospital bills due to the government health insurance鈥檚 limited coverage.
Citing a Social Weather Station survey this May, the lawmaker pointed out how the PhilHealth-sponsored program covers only 5.2 million families鈥攂arely half of the 11.1 million self-rated poor families.
He argued that healthcare will be inaccessible to the poor once PhilHealth wards are in place and said that DOH鈥檚 recent 鈥渢oning down鈥� of its announcement was just done due to the 鈥渕assive negative reactions from the public.鈥�
鈥淎s it is even with PhilHealth, at the rate of government spending on health, hospitals will continue to suffer shortages, from insufficient manpower to empty pharmacies,鈥� said Casi帽o.