Defraying the expenses for hospitalization of patients remains on top of the list of financial assistance of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Alexander Balutan revealed Tuesday.
“PCSO has spent a total of P3.93 billion for hospital confinement for 145,531 beneficiaries out of 319,091 in 2016, maintaining its lead spot through the years,” he said.
Balutan said that in line with President Rodrigo Duterte’s “free medicine” program, the charity agency has been enhancing the delivery of health services especially to cases that needs immediate medical attention.
“The bulk of our fund disbursements always go to hospital confinement but we are looking to expand our services to those with specific conditions,” Balutan said.
A second priority is chemotherapy with the agency spending P1.95 billion for 46,423 patients, while dialysis came third with a total of P81.7 million for 5,679 patients.
Assistant general manager for Charity Dr. Larry Cedro said everyone is welcome to avail of services and can approach PCSO.
“There are catastrophic illnesses such as cancer, chronic kidney disease, organ transplantation among others, that even if you could afford treatment now, the question is sustainability,” Cedro said.
Balutan, however, took note of some criticisms on how the charity agency delivers services to the people and vowed to do better.
“Our countrymen have the mistaken notion that PCSO serves only the poor. That’s wrong. PCSO serves all Filipinos, rich and poor,” he said.
Balutan said PCSO has taken several schemes to serve more patients. As a result, the agency expanded the Small Town Lottery (STL), which is expected to generate an estimate of P27 to P30 billion this year.
“That’s why we expanded our STL. Our orders from President Duterte are to find ways to help more Filipinos in need of assistance,” he said.
At present, PCSO has 56 Authorized Agent Corporations (AACs) with 35 more in the pipeline waiting for approval by the board within this year.
“In just two months, from January to February, we already earned 1.88 billion from STL operations and was able to serve almost 60,000 patients nationwide,” Balutan said.
Balutan said he will increase assistance in need of medicine, implant/prosthesis/medical devices, laboratory and diagnostic procedures, surgery, radiation treatment, laser treatment, medical appliances, blood, transplant and other health related services.
In 2016, the agency spent a total of P7.99 billion for medical assistance, an increase of 14.3% compared to 2015 that benefited more than 300 thousand Filipinos nationwide.
“Let’s support STL and report illegal gambling activities in our area. STL is the only legal numbers game in the country. When we play, we are also helping,” Balutan said.
“Let’s patronize what is legal and avoid what is illegal,” he added.