Red Cross to resume COVID-19 testing, says Gordon

The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) will begin processing COVID-19 tests from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport starting Tuesday night after it received partial payment from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), PRC Chairman Richard Gordon said.

“Tonight, I have requested the secretary-general and all our laboratories throughout the entire country to open to PhilHealth again. And we are going to have what you might call testing tonight from the Manila International Airport muna, tonight,” Gordon said in a briefing.

“’Yan naman ang pangako ko, eh. Pag nag-simula kunin na kaagad lahat ng test gagawin namin. ‘Yung gusto nila ibigay. Kung ayaw na kami bigyan wala kami magagawa, but we are ready to test,” he later added.

Gordon said that full COVID-19 testing operations will resume on Wednesday.

“And tomorrow, regular testing will be conducted in full. We are ready to test all the people that we have not tested. ‘Yung mga nasa hotel ngayon, ipadala na nila, te-testinging namin kagaad ‘yan. Kaya namin i-test ‘yan and I have no doubt,” he said.

PhilHealth has released P500 million as partial payment to the PRC on Tuesday night, about half of its P930-million debt for the COVID-19 tests PRC conducted.

Gordon said the PRC is already preparing a letter asking PhilHealth to pay its remaining balance.

“We’re not waiting. We’re preparing a letter, saying we thank you for your payment, but we need you to pay the full amount in accordance with the contract. We’re not asking anything. We’re not even asking for interest,” Gordon said.

Despite this, he said he will not give PhilHealth a deadline for the other half.

“I really don’t like to give deadlines because I don’t want to paint people in a corner. Pilipino tayo pare-pareho, eh. Mahal naman niya siguro ang bansa, siguro dapat may isang salita tayo,” he said.

The chairperson said they will ask PhilHealth to pay “right away” for future transactions as they will no longer allow the debt to reach P930 million again.

“[L]ahat nu’ng mga bagong test, within three days they get the billing and they pay right away. Hindi na kami papayag na lalaki ng ganyan. Natakot ako talaga, eh. Imagine, ang laki-laki ng amount. Kapag hindi nabayaran ‘yan edi babagsak kami,” he said.

Gordon also expressed gratitude to President Rodrigo Duterte, who vowed that the debt would be paid to the Red Cross on Monday.

Red Cross earlier said it would stop accepting specimens from returning Filipinos, mega swabbing facilities, and local government units—tests funded by PhilHealth—due to mounting unpaid debt.

The number of samples tested for COVID-19 in Metro Manila fell by 20 percent immediately after the PRC stopped conducting tests chargeable to PhilHealth.

PhilHealth President and CEO Dante Gierran, meanwhile, said that he would not settle the state health insurer’s debt to Red Cross until issues on the implementation of the Memorandum of Agreement were resolved.

PRC conducts 30% of the total COVID-19 tests performed nationwide. It has tested over 1.1 million individuals in the country. — BM, GMA News