ITOGON, Benguet – The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC) recently granted the accreditation to the newly established dialysis center in the municipality to allow the State insurance corporation to cover the prescribed sessions of the patients being treated in the facility.
Mayor Bernard S. Waclin said that the municipal government had been awaiting the release of the PhilHealth accreditation so that more patients from the municipality can undergo their regular dialysis treatment in the facility because the State insurance corporation will cover part of the cost of their required sessions.
He claimed that the dialysis center is now in full operation following its inauguration late last year.
Itogon holds the distinction of owning a dialysis treatment center and was able to establish the facility through the public private partnership scheme where the municipal government shelled out funds for the refurbishment of the existing structure while private corporations like the Metro Church of God International (MGCI), the San Roque Power Corporation (SRPC), SN Aboitiz Power Benguet and the Itogon Suyoc Resources, Inc. (ISRI) contributed other resources.
Waclin pointed out that the establishment of the municipal government-owned dialysis treatment center is aimed at significantly reducing the burden of patients in having to wake up early in the morning, travel to dialysis centers in Baguio City and fall in line to await for their scheduled treatment as they will be ferried to and from their residences by the two ambulances that are dedicated to the facility.
The Itogon dialysis center is strategically located within the premises of the former isolation facility constructed by the public works department at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in sitio Malasin, barangay Ucab.
Under the revised guidelines on the coverage of dialysis treatment, PhilHealth is mandated to cover some 156 treatment sessions in any accredited facility around the country.
The local chief executive urged dialysis patients from the different barangays to closely coordinate with the management of the treatment center on how to work out the transfer of their ongoing treatment to the Itogon dialysis center without affecting their PhilHealth coverage so that they will enjoy the convenience of undergoing the treatment in the town’s facility.
The put up of the dialysis treatment center was one of Waclin’s commitment to the people of Itogon during the May 2022 elections which was fulfilled in just more than a year since he assumed as the town’s mayor on July 1, 2022.
He assured residents that the municipal government will be implementing priority development projects one at a time so that there will be something significant that will be accomplished by the present administration that will make life in the locality better in the future. By Dexter A. See
