BACOLOD CITY - The Bacolod City Comprehensive Health Program (BacCHP) already has 104,000 registered members as of Tuesday. Of the total, almost 5,000 cardholders have already availed of hospitalization services since the flagship health program began in May 2023. Under the BacCHP ordinance, the city government guarantees PHP15,000 for the hospital bills of each cardholder and their dependents. In an interview, BacCHP focal person Mae Cuaycong said the city government spends PHP9 million to PHP10 million each month for patient admission payments in all partner-hospitals. 'Our funds are getting low so the last instruction of the mayor (Alfredo Abelardo Benitez) is to put in additional budget,' she said. The city's partner-medical facilities include the Department of Health-retained Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, and private health care institutions Bacolod Queen of Mercy Hospital, South Bacolod General Hospital and Medical Center, Dr. Pablo O. Torre Memorial Hospital (Riverside Me dical Center, Inc.), Bacolod Adventist Medical Center, The Doctor's Hospital, and Metro Bacolod Hospital and Medical Center. Private hospitals will not require a deposit or downpayment from a BacCHP member that needs to be admitted. Besides the BacCHP assistance, charges covered by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation are also deducted from the total bill. Patients are advised to seek assistance from national government agencies to help cover other costs. In his State of the City Address delivered earlier this month, Benitez announced that the BacCHP assistance has been expanded to cover burial expenses. 'We now have memorandums of agreement with 11 funeral parlors. Before, those in need of burial assistance were still required to go to the Government Center. Now, families can just go directly to the funeral homes,' he said. Benitez said the city government is also making arrangements with pharmacies for indigents to avail of free medicines. 'BacCHP members can also go directly to the pharmacy t o claim the medicines. They only have to present their health cards and prescriptions,' he said. Source: Philippines News Agency