Marcos leads launch of new benefits for post-kidney transplant

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Thursday led the launch of PhilHealth’s new benefits for post-kidney transplantation services. 

Marcos visited patients at the National Kidney Transplant Institute (NKTI) in Diliman, Quezon City, where he greeted the patients at the Hemodialysis Center and Hemodialysis Center Extension.

The state insurer reaffirmed its support for NKTI patients by improving benefits for members diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 5.

Last year, PhilHealth increased the hemodialysis benefits for members to P1 million a year after it implemented a second increase in three months.

Under PhilHealth Circular 2024-0023, the agency increased the benefits to P6,350 per session for members and their qualified dependents with chronic kidney disease stage 5 (CKD5). The coverage was increased to P4,000 per session in July from P2,600 previously.

Moreover, PhilHealth said in January of this year that the Z Package for Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) covers Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis (CAPD) for adults and CAPD and Automated Peritoneal Dialysis for pediatric patients. 

For adults, PD Z Benefits have been set at P389,640 and P510,140, depending on the required PD solutions a patient requires per day. The packages increased by up to 89% from the previous P270,000 per year. 

On the other hand, PD Z Benefits for pediatric patients under the CAPD are set at P510,000 and P765,210, while coverage for APD ranges from P763,000 to P1.2 million. The state insurer also pays for exit site infection and peritonitis prevention care.  

Chronic kidney disease is a pressing global health issue, with a prevalence of 9.1% to 13.4% of the population worldwide. 

The NKTI said that one Filipino develops chronic kidney failure every hour, equating to around 120 new cases per million population annually. 

Under its mandate, PhilHealth is tasked to administer the National Health Insurance Program which aims to provide health insurance coverage and ensure affordable, acceptable, available, and accessible healthcare services for all citizens of the Philippines. —VAL, GMA Integrated News