The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) asks the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Philhealth) to right away pay at least P500 million of the latter’s P 762.8 million debt to the former.
The PRC is asking from the Philhealth the payment for the Coronavirus disease (Covid) testing performed by the former.
PRC chairman Sen. Richard Gordon said that as of Jan. 3, 2020, Philhealth’s debt to the Red Cross has ballooned to P762.8 million.
Gordon asks the Philhealth to at least settle the half a billion pesos debt for the meantime.
As this developed, the senator warned that the ballooning debt may impact PRC’s ability to sustain polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing operations, which caters to returning overseas Filipino workers (OFW).
For two weeks in October 2020, the PRC suspensed testing operations due to the ballooning debt by the Philhealth. Philhealth’s debt at that time reached P931 million.
Moreover, the senator said that he doesn’t want to again suspend the testing operations. He added that he has no intention to file cases against Philhealth but bureaucratic delays can be punishable under the law.