ITOGON, Benguet – Dialysis patients continue to be provided by the municipal government with the needed assistance to ease the burden of undergoing their treatment, especially in the resources of their respective families.
Mayor Bernard S. Waclin said that the latest benefit being provided to the dialysis patients undergoing treatment in the town’s dialysis treatment center is the provision of free medicines that were initially purchased by the municipal government from the PhP5 million assistance given by House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.
He added that the local government will try to work out the provision of the necessary funds that will sustain the provision of the free medicines to the increasing number of dialysis patients opting to be treated in the facility based in Malasin.
The mayor disclosed that there is a foundation that is scheduled to conduct a concert for a cause on October 12 in the municipality where all the proceeds of the sale of the tickets will accrue for the benefit of the dialysis patients as kind-hearted sponsors will shoulder the expenses of the conduct of the fund raising event.
“We are lucky in Itogon because there are many civic-minded individuals and groups who are willing to extend a helping hand to those who are in need of assistance for various purposes. We want to convey our heartfelt gratitude to those who are volunteering their resources and services for the welfare of our constituents” mayor Waclin stressed.
Earlier, the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation already covered the year-round dialysis treatment of the patients after it decided to cover the 156 sessions for those undergoing the thrice a week dialysis treatment.
Aside from the free medicines, the municipal government dedicated some of its ambulances to ferry the dialysis patients from their residences to the facility and vice versa as part of its commitment to ease the burden of the patients from undergoing the said treatment.
However, the free transportation services being offered by the local government is for residents of the different barangays, but for those patients from outside the municipality, this service will be until the boundary of the municipality.
Mayor Waclin stated that the number of dialysis patients being treated in the facility already increased to 40 from the previous 30 individuals but the town’s dialysis treatment center can actually accommodate around 72 persons to maximize its potential.
Dialysis patients and their relatives expressed their gratitude to the local government headed by Mayor Waclin for its initiative in providing them with free dialysis treatment, transportation services, medicines, among others, that had greatly reduced their expenses in the treatment of their disease which saves them the amount which they can now use for other needs.
The Itogon dialysis treatment center is a 12-bed facility established by the municipal government through limited funds in partnership with concerned government agencies and whose machines and ambulances were donated by parties from the private sector. By Dexter A. See
