SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique - The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) goes full-swing in reaching out to members down to the barangays for the Konsultasyong Sulit Tama (Konsulta) program. Junie Sabusap, PhilHealth Antique head, said in an interview Thursday that they are now revisiting the 18 municipalities in the province after the Konsulta caravan in March this year, which registered 6,600 members. This time, they focus on the barangays, especially those in remote areas. 'This September, through the Assisted Batch Registration (ABR), we are going in full swing in revisiting the barangays to reach out to those who have not yet registered with the Konsulta program,' he said. He said that they started to conduct the ABR last August in the barangays in partnership with the seven local government units (LGUs) of Tobias Fornier, Belison, Hamtic, Libertad, San Jose de Buenavista, Valderrama, and Sibalom and registered 1,655 out of their targeted 3,570 members. 'We conduct the ABR with pe rsonnel of the Rural Health Units (RHUs) as well as the Barangay Health Workers (BHWs) so that the people could not only register but also be able to have their first patient encounter right after,' Sabusap said. During the first patient encounter, the individuals availed consultation, medicines, and selected laboratory, he said. 'The Konsulta program is yet on the preventive side. That is why it provides comprehensive outpatient benefits to registered members as mandated by the Universal Health Care Law,' he said. He also said that all the RHUs in the 18 towns of Antique and the nine government-owned hospitals are accredited providers of the Konsulta program. Source: Philippines News agency