House approves bill providing free dialysis and renal treatment for indigents

June 1, 2019 Metro BLISTT

BAGUIO CITY – The House of Representatives approved on third and final reading House Bill 9156 providing for a comprehensive renal replacement therapy (RRT) for patients with end stage renal disease days before the 17th Congress adjourned on sine die, Baguio lone district representative Mark Go said on Thursday.

“We have long been waiting for the passage of this significant measure that would alleviate the sufferings of our poor patients with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD),” Go said in a statement.

When enacted into law, the bill will provide free dialysis treatment to indigent patients identified by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and the establishment of dialysis service wards and units in national, regional and provincial government hospitals, the statement said.

The statement also said that the rate for each dialysis treatment, including the use of machines and medicines is between P2,000 to P2,500 in government hospitals and around P4,000 in private facilities, which raised a major concern to the congressman who said, “these prevailing rates are too much burden for our indigent patients considering that some of them have to undergo lifetime dialysis.”

Philhealth will cover expenses for the evaluation and screening of the kidney transplant donor as well as the cost of laboratory procedures for both patient and donor, which will include hospitalization expenses during the period of confinement and cost of medications, the statement said.

The congressman said that proper medical care as recommended by the medical experts will be given to the patients. The renal treatment procedures and additional facilities for dialysis are
necessary to help them get better and to “actually save lives,” he said.

He added that focus should be given to the curative aspect of the disease, aside from its preventive measures. Go is one of the principal authors of HB 9156, which substituted House Bill Nos. 621, 2466, 3924, 4391, 5503, 5914, 6356, 6526, 6667, 6969. HB 5503, solely authored by Congressman Mark Go, seeks to provide free dialysis treatment to poor patients by mandating one national government hospital in every region or province to establish a dialysis unit, the statement said.

MerriamDelRosario/ABN