Poor LP families get health cards

An initial 200 poor families in Las Piñas City have been given PhilHealth cards by Mayor Imelda Aguilar under the "Kalusugan para sa Mamamayan" program, part of the free hospitalization package being offered by the city.

The distribution of health cards is a joint project of Las Piñas City and PhilHealth Inc. which provides hospitalization assistance to underprivileged families.

"The health of the people is one thing that we cannot compromise. And I believe that while it is our duty to give them hospitalization assistance, teaching them how to prevent sickness is a better alternative," Aguilar stressed.

Apart from the PhilHealth cards, quality medical and health services through the "Green Card" program is also being implemented, wherein qualified residents and their family are entitled with up to P25,000 worth of free hospitalization benefits at the San Juan de Dios Hospital, Las Piñas Doctors’ Hospital and Philippine General Hospital.

Aguilar has vowed to come up with more innovative health programs to focus not just on hospitalization assistance, but on illness prevention.

Since the implementation of the free hospitalization program in 2000, more than 45,000 residents have benefited from the medical package. Recently, Aguilar initiated a citywide health fair, which benefited more than 51,000 indigent residents, mostly children and women in the city’s 20 barangays.