6 ex-DOH chiefs buck PhilHealth fund transfer

MANILA, Philippines — Six former secretaries of the Department of Health (DOH) have expressed opposition to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) fund transfer.

In a letter to Finance Secretary Ralph Recto, former health secretaries Jaime Galvez Tan, Manuel Dayrit, Francisco Duque III, Esperanza Cabral, Enrique Ona Jr. and Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial, along with groups of health professionals, urged the Department of Finance (DOF) “to be sensitive to public opinion and exercise prudence and caution by not transferring the next tranche of funds and succeeding transfers.”

At least 65 medical organizations staged a protest action, dubbed “white coat rally,” at the Philippine General Hospital in Manila yesterday to express their opposition to PhilHealth’s scheduled fund transfer of P10 billion to the national government on Wednesday.

This developed following remittance by PhilHealth of the initial P20 billion last May.

The groups, including the Philippine Medical Association, Philippine College of Physicians, Philippine Pharmacists Association, Philippine Nurses Association, Philippine League of Government and Private Midwives and Philippine Physical Therapy Association, demanded the government stop further transfers of PhilHealth funds to the national treasury.

Earlier, concerned groups and individuals representing the labor sector and grassroots communities filed a petition at the Supreme Court (SC) questioning the constitutionality of the fund transfer.

Last Tuesday, the SC ordered Congress, the DOF, the executive secretary and PhilHealth to comment on the petition within 10 days.

It was last July when medical societies conducted a press conference where they urged President Marcos to stop the diversion of the P89.9-billion PhilHealth funds, calling for systemic reforms in PhilHealth and protection of the benefits of members as mandated by Republic Act 11223, or the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act.

They argued that PhilHealth funds belong to direct and indirect PhilHealth contributors and should not be used for other purposes.

Despite their pleas, no order from the government has been released to stop the scheduled transfer of the second tranche