- Bacolod Our Lady of Mercy Specialty Hospital to close down at the end of the month.
- 401 employees faced a 3-day termination notice and 213 dialysis patients will be affected by the closure.
The Our Lady of Mercy Specialty Hospital in Bacolod will be closing down on June 20, 2018.
In a letter, PhilHealth-6 regional head Lourdes Diocson told Dr. Reynold Wong, who is the medical director of the Bacolod Our Lady of Mercy Specialty Hospital (BOLMSH), that the hospital’s application was denied due “conviction and due to fraudulent acts as recommended in Rule II Section 63c of the revised Implementing Rules and Regulations 10606 of the National Health Insurance Act of 2013.”
Last 2007, the hospital received a suspension from PhilHealth due to the alleged padding of claims for cataract operations.
With the denial of accreditation from the agency, the hospital has been refusing patients who want to be admitted and use their PhilHealth cards since Monday due to the reason that “it would be unfair to them that they could no longer use their PhilHealth because they denied our accreditation, at the same time their respective doctors could not be paid by PhilHealth.”
The personnel of the hospital stated that there are currently less than 20 patients in the hospital while a total of 401 employees were given a 3-day termination notice.
Adding to the hospital’s woes is the failure of PhilHealth to pay P25 million in collectibles from March to May 2018.
A patient of the said hospital named Gregorio Gustilo Jr., wrote a letter addressed to President Rodrigo Duterte stating that the denial of accreditation will face huge losses since there is also 213 people undergoing dialysis in the institution.
“We, the patients, are contented, confident and relied so much on the expertise and reasonable prices that this hospital is charging poor patients like us and who are all PhilHealth members,
Please Mr. President, help us by convincing PhilHealth to reconsider its decision and grant accreditation to BOLMSH- NHMSI for it to continue operating and to pay the P25 million due from March to May 2018,
You are our only hope, Mr. President because we know that you are a pro-poor person and would do everything to help us,”