The huge PhilHealth COVID-19 reimbursements for Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) in Davao City is proportionate to its size, said Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, Wednesday.
PhilHealth revealed Tuesday that SPMC has the highest amount of claims under Philippine Health Insurance Corporation’s Internal Reimbursement (IRM) program for COVID- 19 patients with P326 million.
UP-Philippine General Hospital with P263 million ranked second, followed by the Davao Regional Medical Center with P209 million.
“Itong IRM, how they compute it is based on historical claims, iyong claims for three months the previous year. Wala pa tayong COVID noon,” Vergeire said in an online forum.
“SPMC is a 1,200-bed hospital. Comparing it with other hospitals, ito na ang pinakamalaking hospital na meron tayo and they take a lot of cases, even specialized cases. Kaya hindi rin tama na ma-ico-compare natin ito sa mga regions with [a lot of] COVID-19 cases,” Vergeire added.
Vergeire added SPMC treats hard specialty cases, various types of cancer, and is equipped with facilities of high technology.
“Kaya kung saka-sakaling mataas, marahil iyon ang kadahilanan, iyong kalakihan ng kanilang ospital,” Vergeire added.
Included in the top 10 hospital recipients of IRM are:
- Vicente Sotto Memoral Medical Center in Cebu City (P204 million)
- Jose B. Lingad Memorial Regional Hospital (P201 million)
- National Kidney and Transplant Institute in Quezon City (P179 million)
- Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (P165 million)
- Northern Mindanao Medical Center (P150.2 million)
- Quirino Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City (P150 million) and
- Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center in Tacloban City (P146.2 million)
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COVID-19 claims of SPMC
Davao City is the hometown of President Rodrigo Duterte and his family. Sara Duterte is reelected mayor of the city while her brother Baste Duterte serves as the vice-mayor. Paolo Duterte meanwhile has the first legislative district seat of Davao City.
Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri meanwhile said it is unlikely that Duterte has something to do with SPMC’s huge reimbursement allocation.
“I don’t think the President had asked them to put the money in Davao, those Davao City hospitals, I don’t think he’ll do that,” Zubiri said in an interview on ANC.
“Baka mayroong nagsisipsip lang kay Pangulo, maybe that’s one,” he added.