The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) still owes the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) around P477 million, and it is growing as COVID-19 tests continue.
A report from “24 Oras” said the balance was computed after PhilHealth paid another P100 million to PRC on October 30.
On October 27, PhilHealth also released P500 million to the humanitarian organization as partial payment for the tests.
PRC was earlier accredited by the government to operate laboratories that conduct COVID-19 tests chargeable to PhilHealth.
Senator Richard Gordon, PRC chairperson, said no deadline was given to PhilHealth to settle its dues.
“It’s a deadline based on their conscience,” Gordon said.
Rey Balena, PhilHealth spokesperson, said they were committed to expedite the validation of claims of PRC.
Gordon reiterated all tests being conducted by PRC were aboveboard and supported by documents.
At the same time, Gordon has urged PhilHealth to make timely payments to PRC for COVID-19 testing as it needs funds for disaster response after Super Typhoon Rolly's onslaught.
"We are supposed to be only an auxiliary, government is supposed to bear the brunt of the support but we always help and the whole world helps us through the Red Cross," Gordon said during an interview on ANC's Headstart.
"As far as I'm concerned they can do all the evaluation, all I’m gonna say is we did not test anything that was not given to us by government. Coast Guard did a good job, we made sure they documented it. We can account for all the people tested,” said Gordon.
Israel donation
Gordon said the PRC had sent food, fuel, three water tankers, and a desalination plant donated by Israel to severely-hit Catanduanes, where Rolly made its initial landfall early Sunday.
The NGO has received some P35 million from the international federation of Red Cross which it will use to respond to areas that the world's strongest storm this year devastated, Gordon said.
It plans to build transitional homes in Legazpi City, Albay after Rolly destroyed some 167 houses there, he added.
"This is gonna be a long time, this is like Haiyan in terms of redevelopment. But this is more organized now, we've learned a lot of lessons. The only problem in Catanduanes is that it’s isolated," he said.
COVID infections
The Philippines logged on Tuesday 1,772 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 387,161, the Department of Health reported.
This is the 21st straight day that the daily tally counted fewer than 3,000, although it does not include data from 18 accredited testing laboratories that failed to submit results on time.
The province of Pampanga led areas in the country that recorded the highest daily additional cases with 154, followed by Quezon City with 115, and Laguna with 83. Baguio City and Manila followed with 70 and 69 new confirmed cases, respectively.
There are also 153 new recoveries, the DOH said in its latest bulletin. The total number of recoveries was at 348,967, or 90 percent of the total recorded cases.
The country also recorded 49 new fatalities from the respiratory illness, bringing the death toll to 7,318.
Worldwide, COVID-19 has claimed 1,202,824 lives and infected more than 46.73 million people.
Vaccine czar
The Palace on Tuesday defended the appointment of presidential peace adviser Carlito Galvez as coronavirus vaccine czar after criticism went viral, noting that someone with a medical background should have been chosen.
In a press briefing, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the distribution of the vaccines was more of a logistical problem than a medical one, saying the testing and approval of the vaccine would still be handled by medical experts.
Galvez, a former military general, said that as coronavirus vaccine czar, he would be a “milestone keeper,” “integrator” and “synchronizer” of all agencies involved in the distribution of the vaccine.
“We need someone with managerial skills and used to these kinds of management processes,” Roque said.
Supplies prepositioned
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Tuesday reported the Department of Health prepositioned about P26.5 million worth of drugs, medicines, medical supplies, health kits, including personal protective equipment and other COVID-19 supplies in preparation for typhoon Rolly.
Duque said a total of P21.7 million worth of commodities were also available and could be immediately mobilized at the DOH Central office warehouse.
Duque added that in preparation for the super typhoon, DOH raised the code red alert in all affected regions and alerted hospitals to ensure standby functional generator sets and adequate critical life-saving equipment for use in emergency situations.
Patients and staff of Mega TTMFs such as the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, Rizal Memorial Coliseum, Filinvest Temporary Treatment and Monitoring Facilities, and Philippine Arena were transferred to various hotel isolation facilities in the National Capital Region.
On the other hand, TTMF patients and staff in Albay province were evacuated in Day Care Centers, public schools, and evacuation centers.
Antigen tests
The Department of Health has said it is just waiting for the results of Baguio City’s pilot test for COVID-19 antigen tests.
“Last week they have sent us that they were able to finish already. They were able to attain the sample size to complete the study,” DOH spokesperson Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said during a virtual briefing.
However, Vergeire said they were still waiting for the comparison of the antigen test results and the polymerase chain reaction test results to see whether a certain antigen test brand and antigen testing itself can meet the country’s accuracy requirements.
Originally, the Philippine government wanted to use it for screening in airports but the World Health Organization (WHO) later issued guidelines saying it is not appropriate for border screening.