Belen baffled why indigents not covered by PhilHealth for 2 years
DAGUPAN City Mayor Brian Lim should be held responsible for failing to enroll the city’s 2,000 indigents in PhilHealth for two years.
This was the terse response of former Mayor Belen Fernandez when interviewed by local media for her reaction to the reported failure of the Lim administration to enroll the city’s indigents in 2020 and 2021.
Fernandez said health insurance for those who have less in life should always be prioritized.
She called on the Commission on Audit and the Sangguniang Panlungsod to ascertain where the annual P6 million budget for indigent’s insurance were spent.
“There must be transparency and accountability in every transaction of the city government,” Fernandez intoned.
The PhilHealth regional office, through Dr. Maricar Arzadon, confirmed that not a single indigent was enrolled by Dagupan for two straight years.
The City’s Social Welfare Department said the Covid pandemic prevented it from updating the list of indigents to be enrolled.
Fernandez said the city’s indigents, members of the barangay family that included barangay health workers, tanods and other barangay volunteers. were enrolled consistently with PhilHealth during her term.
She said she will lose no time in enrolling the indigents if given another mandate by the city residents to serve anew. (Leonardo Micua)
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