PhilHealth officers cry foul over NBI raps

PhilHealth accreditation officials recommended for prosecution by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) cried foul on Friday, saying they were denied due process.

The NBI rapped the 21 PhilHealth officials for alleged graft, violation of the Philhealth Law and the code of conduct of public officials for failing to stop the reportedly fraudulent claims of WellMed Dialysis Center.

The group said the NBI’s move subjects them to trial by publicity without being given the opportunity to explain their side.

They added the NBI copied their names from a document which contained the constituted members of the Accreditation Subcommittee from 2018-2019 without investigating or verifying.

According to the NBI, the officials violated the Accreditation Subcommittee’s mandate after they approved the renewal of the accreditation of Wellmed despite its incomplete documents.

The agency added that Philhealth’s PRO-NCR is mandated to periodically check health facilities such as Wellmed, for compliance.

“Should the PRO-NCR perform its duty to monitor, the fraudulent activity should have been detected earlier, thus its accreditation be withdrawn and payment of its claims should not have been made,” it said.