House OKs bill on free dialysis treatment for indigent patients
By Vince Angelo C. Ferreras, Reporter
THE House of Representatives approved on final reading a bill which seeks to provide free dialysis treatment for indigent patients.
House Bill 9156 or the “Comprehensive Renal Replacement Therapy Act” received 177 affirmative votes with no negative votes and no abstention.
The bill aims to provide a comprehensive renal replacement therapy (RRT) for patients with end stage renal disease in national, regional and provincial government hospitals.
All national, provincial, and regional government hospitals, including stand-alone dialysis facilities, shall have a dialysis service area compliant with the licensing by the Department of Health and Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).
The bill states that qualified indigent patients will be covered by a “No Balance Billing Policy.”
Under the measure, PhilHealth shall cover the cost of laboratory work-up for both recipient and donor candidates, hospitalization for the transplant operation, the cost of organ retrieval, as well as medication and post-discharge laboratories up to one month for the recipient and up to one year for the donor.
Further, the bill increases the PhilHealth Z-benefit package rates for peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis after kidney-transplant procedures.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office shall cover the remaining sessions for both peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis.
