Indigent patients from Davao and other adjacent regions in Mindanao who seek medical assistance will now have easier access to government health programs with the opening of the Lingap Para sa Bayan Inter-Agency One-Stop-Shop at the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) compound in Davao City.

Lingap Para sa Bayan is a centralized facility which processes health services for the poor offered by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC), Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), and Davao City Social Services and Development Office (CSSDO).

According to Davao City Mayor Sarah Duterte-Carpio, the one-stop-shop is expected to hasten delivery of services to poor patients and individuals in crisis so that they need not go from one government office to another just to get the much needed medical assistance.

For her part, DSWD-Region XI Director Mercedita P. Jabagat said that this first-ever one-stop-shop for health services in Davao City does not only serve patients from the city, but also those from other provinces, towns, and cities in Mindanao.

The one-stop shop will have its permanent office once the P20-million worth building construction is finished this year inside the SPMC.

Dir. Jabagat added, “Putting together all agencies offering medical  assistance will not only provide convenience to patients, but also ensures there is no duplication in the   benefits being provided and the access of beneficiaries to the same is also monitored.

DSWD’s Lingap at Gabay Para sa Maysakit Program

As part of the one-stop-shop, indigent clients may avail of benefits of the DSWD’s Lingap at Gabay Para sa Maysakit program (LINGAP sa Masa), which is the P1 billion free medicine program funded by the Office of the President.

Initially, the LINGAP sa Masa only provides free medicines to indigent clients. To make the program more responsive, however, the DSWD expanded the guidelines to include the provision of prosthetic equipment and other medical supplies; the program also now covers expenses for laboratory services.

The program is implemented with 19 partner-hospitals in Regions III, VI, VII, XI, and the National Capital Region (NCR).

In 2017, some 14,464 clients in Region XI were served through the Lingap sa Masa Program of DSWD utilizing some P134,922,703.62.

Of the total number of clients served, 11,543 were assisted through the one-stop-shop facility while 2,921 clients were served through the Lingap sa Masa desks in SPMC and Davao Regional Medical Center in Tagum City.

Dir. Jabagat said that apart from the initially identified hospitals, district and provincial hospitals, as well as other regional government hospitals will soon implement the program to cater to qualified local residents.” ###