Sen. Pimentel gives P2 million for VSMMC patients

CEBU, Philippines - Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III signed a memorandum of agreement with the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center for the P2 million he has appropriated as medical assistance for Cebuanos.

Pimentel signed the memorandum of agreement with VSMMC Director Dr. Gerardo Aquino Jr., VSMMC Administrative Head Maricon Esparagoza and former Santander mayor Wilson Wenceslao at the University of San Jose Recoletos Law Library yesterday.

Pimentel said that the P2 million he pledged is from his Priority Development Assistance Fund which he has also used to provide medical assistance in other parts of the country and for scholarship aid in a state university.

“Mag-take advantage na po tayo sa medical assistance, (Let’s take advantage of the medical assistance.)” said Pimentel.

Aquino explained that the patients need to follow certain procedures to avail of the assistance. They have to get a referral from Wenceslao whom Pimentel appointed to serve as the medical assistance coordinator and will be responsible in screening indigent patients.

Pimentel said Wenceslao will be in charge of deploying representatives to the hospital or in the Provincial Capitol to decentralize his task. This way, people will not be required to travel to Santander to seek Wenceslao’s referral.

Aquino said they will be serving the patients after having the referral from the authorized coordinator. VSMMC will also be issuing control numbers to these patients.

“We will be giving to Sen. Koko Pimentel the monthly report of the utilization because it is subject to the rules and regulations of COA,” Aquino added.

Pimentel said there will be a ceiling amount for each patient and it would be okay for extraordinary cases to exceed the ceiling amount. — (FREEMAN)