Philippine Red Cross Chairperson Sen. Richard Gordon admitted that the overdue balance of PhilHealth which ballooned to ₱1.1 billion has affected the operations of their COVID-19 testing laboratories.
Due to the balance, around $6 million worth of test kits from China are currently pending procurement.
The PRC suspended last week the COVID-19 testing covered by PhilHealth. This has affected 6,000 OFWs who are now stranded in quarantine facilities at the National Capital Region (NCR). The PRC has rejected the offer of the government to pay at least half of the balance.
“Kung mayroon lang kaming pera, we will test. We were able to test beyond hundred million, beyond two hundred million, then nagbayad sila ng 700 million. Pagbayad, inulit na naman, pinatagal na naman nang pinatagal. Ninenerbyos kami eh (We will test if we have the money. We were able to test beyond hundred million, beyond two hundred million and they paid 700 million. After paying, they repeated the delay. That makes us nervous),” Gordon explained.
The PhilHealth said in a statement that it “shall wait for DOJ’s opinion on the PhilHealth-PRC MOA for proper legal guidance on how to proceed with its payment to the PRC.”
It assured that the PhilHealth has funds and seeks understanding from those affected.
Gordon disclosed that the current actual testing conducted by PRC has declined to around 1,000 daily from almost 11,000 prior to the unsettled arrears. He is worried about the possible increase in cases due to the testing drop.
The PRC assured that it will immediately resume testing once the balance is paid off, and that it is willing to cut down testing cost for PhilHealth. – Report from Patrick de Jesus
