PCSO eases rules on medical grants

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) launched yesterday its improved Individual Medical Assistance Program (IMAP) aimed at easing rules for the public to obtain medical assistance from the charity agency.

PCSO general manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas II said the streamlining of the IMAP procedure is in response to public clamor to make it easier to request for assistance.

Rojas said patients requesting medical grants are no longer required to have face-to-face interviews with PCSO social workers.

He said eliminating the interview process would reduce long queues of patients at PCSO offices requesting assistance for hospitalization and treatment such as dialysis and chemotherapy.

Rojas said that under the new system, waiting time has been reduced to three days for those seeking less than P100,000 in medical assistance.

“A revised IMAP form will gather the data necessary for socio-economic evaluation of patients,” he said.

Rojas said the new forms are available at hospitals that have a partnership with the agency under the “At Source Ang Processing” or ASAP help desk.

He said IMAP forms are also available at the PCSO’s charity assistance department at the Lung Center of the Philippines in Quezon City.