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Private
hospital owners here in Bohol are not joining the nationwide
call of a "hospital holiday" even as they condemn
the RA 9439, the newly adopted "Patient's Illegal Detention
Act."
The
Bohol Council of the Philippine Hospital Association (PHA),
led by its President Dr. Ma. Cerilda Tallo said their group
opposes the new law as it is detrimental to hospital operations.
However,
they are not joining the whole day "closure" of
not accepting patients at hospitals as their manifestation
of protest.
PHA
has adopted a position paper during an emergency meeting last
week and will start lobbying with the three Bohol congressmen.
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Private
hospital operators in Manila were urging members of
the PHA to join the "hospital holiday" since
last week.
Leaders
of the association have explained that even though the
will not accept admittances, they will still provide
medical attention to emergency cases.
Tallo
told the Chronicle yesterday that while the Implementing
Rules and Regulations (IRR) of RA 9439 is still being
drafted, they hope they could negotiate on some of its
provisions.
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She
claimed that even the national president of the PHA was surprised
when the law was signed last May 3, 2007 by Pres. Gloria Arroyo
when there have been no consultations among private hospital
owners and stakeholders in the health care industry.
In
their position paper, PHA-Bohol said "the law will only
become logical when universal coverage will be attained by
the National Health Insurance Program of the government.
The program, which is implemented through Philhealth, will
partially defray the cost of healthcare and thus lessen the
effect of unpaid hospitalization.
While
some hospitals in Cebu and Metro Manila are adopting "no
deposit, no admittance policy," according to Tallo, this
is not being practiced by local private hospitals.
PHA-Bohol
said that even one of the sponsors of RA 9439, Sen. Pia Cayetano
had said that "unpaid hospital bills is but a symptom
in the health care sector that could be dealt with more comprehensively,
not only through legislation, but through health sector reforms."
Even
so, PHA questions "why was there a need to legislate
and pass another law" when the major issue is the inaccessibility
of health care by "the unserved and the underserved members
of society."
They
said direct health care delivery to the grassroots should
have been the objective of government.
Considering
the high costs of medicines, medical equipment and facilities,
professional fees of doctors and medical practitioners, PHA
is demanding consultations to be done by the Department of
Health in the drafting of the law's implementing guidelines.
Tallo
said government and private physicians, nurses, the pharmaceutical
industry and those who will be affected by RA 9439 should
be consulted.
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