Execs charged but UHC hangs

While the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) cleared the way for the Universal Health Care (UHC) law by indicting 21 officials and employees of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), the Department of Health (DoH) admitted the law can’t be launched next year after all.

DoH Secretary Francisco Duque III said the agency’s budget for next year is insufficient to start the highly-anticipated law which will provide free hospitalization to all Filipinos.

Duque revealed the UHC’s lack of funds during the budget hearing of the House Committee on Appropriations for the P88.72 billion proposed DoH budget.

“We cannot do a national roll-out because of budgetary constraints and also because of readiness,” Duque told lawmakers.

Instead of a national launch, he said the DoH plans to pilot the UHC program in certain provinces that will become models for its implementation.

Nonetheless, NBI director Dante Gierran said the PhilHealth officials face violations of the anti-graft and ethical standards laws.

Legislators said PhilHealth needed to be cleared of corruption allegations since it will be the implementing body for the UHC.

The NBI chief stressed that the string of criminal cases is in relation to WellMed Dialysis and Laboratory Center Corp. (WellMed), whose owner Bryan Christopher Sy y Wang was also charged with fraudulent and irregular claims on dialysis and other medical treatment.

Those charged before the Department of Justice (DoJ) are members of the accreditation sub-committee from PhilHealth Regional Office-National Capital Region (PRO-NCR) that include branch manager Dr. Lolita V. Tuliao.

Gierran said those charged were officials and employees of PhilHealth who are responsible in approving the accreditation of WellMed for 2019 despite the investigations conducted by the agency’s fact-finding investigation and enforcement department.

Investigation made by the NBI anti-graft division showed the PRO-NCR did not conduct periodic monitoring of the health care institution, as in the case of WellMed, which is required under RA 10606.

It was also revealed that PhilHealth’s accreditation sub-committee acted without authority in accrediting WellMed. On 4 January 2019, the sub-committee recommended its accreditation.

In its 20 May 2019 meeting, the ASC resolved to continue processing the claims of WellMed based on the letter of Dr. Israel Francis Pargas, chairman of PhilHealth’s accreditation committee.

The NBI investigation also showed the body failed to withdraw the accreditation of WellMed considering it is within its duty and authority to do so.

It also found out that those charged gave unwarranted benefits to the company in violation of Section 3 of RA 3019.

NBI’s anti-graft division representative Ferdinand Razon said a total release of claims amounting to P1.8 million was made.

“If WellMed failed to be accredited for 2019, the PhilHealth fund should have not been reduced by P1.8 million. So, there was undue injury on the part of the government’s fund,” Razon noted.

Prosecutors filed the charges after the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) dismissed on a technicality the 17 complaints filed by the DoJ against physician Bryan Sy and others implicated in the scandal.

In a 14-page resolution, RTC Branch 219 Judge Janet Abergos-Samar said, “These cases are dismissed for lack of jurisdiction over the offenses charged without prejudice to refiling before the Metropolitan Trial Court of Quezon City.”