Thursday, November 15, 2012

Mayor Lim leads distribution of PhilHealth cards




DAGUPAN CITY— “Bawat Miyembro, Protektado, Kalusugan Natin, Segurado!”
This was the theme of the city’s indigency sponsored program spearheaded by the city government of Dagupan in partnership with the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) where Mayor Benjamin S. Lim led the distribution of PhilHealth cards to beneficiaries from eight barangays in this city.
As part of the city’s comprehensive health program, Lim dispensed the LGU sponsored health insurance card to 257 receivers in Bonuan Binloc and 603 recipients in Pantal District on November 7.
On November 9, he gave out another 698 PhilHealth cards to beneficiaries belonging to Cluster III which include Bolosan District, Salisay, Mamalingling, Tebeng, Salisay and Mangin.
 “Apart from the distribution of the health cards, the construction of the soon-to-rise Maternal and Child Clinic will commence in January next year where all the sick and the needy can avail of treatment that is free of charge,” Lim said.
Meanwhile, City Health Officer Leo Carbonell who acted as focal person of said events revealed, “The beneficiaries were selected based on the criteria given by PhilHealth such as level of income, state of housing condition, inputs from barangay officials, social welfare officers, health volunteers and nurses who went around their respective villages to evaluate whether recipients fall under lower 20% quantile.”
With regards to the benefits, “The card holders will have the no balance billing policy meaning they will not pay anything out of their pocket if they will seek admission in accredited government hospitals,”Dr. Carbonell added.
“Second, the out-patient benefit package of the city government aims to grant PhilHealth sponsored members free laboratory exams and free medicines for medical and surgical cases which is a counterpart of the Department of Health (DOH) as part of the agency’s poverty alleviation program.”
When asked about the validity of the card, Dr. Carbonell said that recipients were to enjoy the benefits from January 2012 until December 2013.
 “The deferral in the distribution of cards can be attributed to the fact that PhilHealth only released the cards in October,”Carbonell explained.
“Anyway, beneficiaries have already availed of the services since the second quarter of 2012 by securing a certification from PhilHealth,” Dr. Carbonell said even as he added, “Now, they can bring the card to any hospital and they can enjoy the benefits as a member of a sponsored insurance program.”
In an interview held at the covered court of Pantal Elementary School, the CHO chief stated that the city government under Mayor Lim has so far sponsored 6,664 families with the LGU paying a premium of P1,800 per member. This is on top of those enrolled by the Department of Health (DOH) who are members of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4 Ps.
At present, Carbonell confirms that almost 11,000 Dagupenos-- who are members of the sponsored insurance programs-- are enrolled as Philhealth cardholders which can be translated to 55,000 recipients.
The city government plans to distribute Philhealth cards to the rest of the 31 barangays by November 21 this year.
Carbonell further stated, “The city government under Mayor Lim decided to distribute the ID cards instead of gathering our qualified constituents one by one so that we could concentrate on the information dissemination regarding where and how they can avail of the benefits.”
The following village chiefs who assisted Mayor Lim in the distribution of PhilHealth cards were Pedro Gonzales, Bon. Binloc ; Lilia Yasar, Pantal District; Marvin Fabia, Bolosan District; Bernard Cabison, Mangin and Andrew Carvajal, Salisay.
Also present during the related events were barangay nurses, medical personnel from the CHO and barangay health volunteers together with PhilHealth officers Chester Canto and Rommel Saingan on November 6  and PhilHealth marketing specialist Jun Belen on November 9. (CIO)


BP ’12 Dagupeño medalists pay courtesy call to MBSL

DAGUPAN CITY – Young Dagupeño karatekas whose wins propelled team Pangasinan to overall championship of the recently concluded Northern Luzon leg of the Batang Pinoy Games met with Mayor Benjamin S. Lim last Friday.

At the City Mayor’s Office, Lim congratulated the budding athletes for the victories they slewed in the games showing that when it comes to sports, the Dagupeños are never left out.

The crew contributed a whooping 15 medals to the unmatched haul of the Pangasinan delegation during the Philippine Olympic Committee and Philippine Sports Commission instituted tilt held in the municipality of Lingayen from October 10-13.

Leading the triumphant karatedo players in paying a courtesy call with the mayor was the 11-year-old John Enrico Vasquez, who led the oath of sportsmanship during the opening of the games and brought home the most medals, all of which were gold.

With Vasquez were: Kristelle Zabala, who brought home two golds; Francis Augustine Zabala, 1 silver and 1 bronze; and Gabriel Valenzuela, 1 bronze.

Accompanying the junior karatekas with their meeting with Lim was John Enrico’s father and the city’s karatedo delegation coach Dr. Alejandro Enrico Vasquez, also the president of the Philippine Karatedo Federation-NSA Inc and country chief of the Filipinas Wado Ryu Club.

Among the other Dagupeño players who mustered medals from the competition were: John Matthew Manantan, 2 golds; Kaille Juguillon, 1 gold and 1 silver; Elton Joseph De Sesto, 1 silver and 1 bronze; Celina Koleen Juguillon, 1 silver; Kurt Fierro, 2 bronzes.

Coach Vasquez, in an interview, said that he was elated that the mayor was always receptive of their team whenever they present to him the awards his team reaps.

“It inspires the kids. How humbling it is to be honored in your own place,” he remarked. (CIO)

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