A labor group welcomed a Senate bill that would prevent hospitals from asking any form of advance payment as a prerequisite for admission or medical treatment to emergency-case patients.
The Partido Manggagawa said that the bill will give families, particularly the poor, medical attention in case of emergency cases.
Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros filed Senate Bill No. 1353, that seeks to amend and strengthen Republic Act. No. 8344 otherwise known as the Anti-hospital Deposit Law by imposing stricter penalties such as four to six years of imprisonment to erring hospitals which demand any deposit or other form of advance payment as a prerequisite for admission or medical treatment of an emergency patient.
Hontiveros’s bill also increases the fines for hospitals which refuse to administer basic emergency care from P100,000 to P1,000,000.
It also gives authority to the Department of Health to revoke the license of a health facility after three repeated violations committed pursuant to an established policy of the hospital or clinic or upon the instruction of its management.
To investigate patient complaints and facilitate the filing of cases in court, the bill also proposes to establish a “Sumbungan Board” or a Health Facilities Oversight Board, which will be under the Department of Health (DOH).
“I am happy that the Senate passed a better and stronger Anti-hospital Deposit Law to ensure that our people will not be denied hospital treatment just because they are poor," Hontiveros said.
"We have come one step closer today to our vision of universal health. Harinawa, sa batas na ito, wala nang mahirap na itataboy ng ospital. Wala nang pagkakaitan ng serbisyong pangkalusugan," Hontiveros added.
The measure is the fourth bill to be passed by Hontiveros in the Senate which reached the third and final reading after assuming office last July 2016. The other three are: The Expanded Maternity Leave Bill providing women workers 120 days worth of paid maternity leave; the Mental Health Law, which seeks to integrate mental health services and programs in the public health system, and The Speech and Language Pathology Bill, which aims to regulate the practice of speech therapists.
