COMMONWEALTH Healthcare Corp. Chief Executive Officer Esther Muna on Monday said CHCC needs adequate funding for the services it provides, which will soon include the medical referral program.
Reacting to the opinion issued by Attorney General Edward Manibusan last week, Muna said at this point, it’s still not clear when exactly CHCC will begin managing the medical referral program.
“We need to have a formal transition of its operations as well as adequate funding for services and operations,” she added.
In a legal opinion, the AG told Gov. Ralph DLG Torres that the medical referral program’s transfer from CHCC to the governor’s office was done without legal authority.
Special Assistant to the Administration Mathilda “Keko” Rosario earlier told the House Ways and Means Committee that the transfer of the medical referral program to the governor’s office during the administration of then-Gov. Eloy S. Inos “was supposedly on a temporary basis” to help the program go through its financial woes at the time.
In his letter to the governor last week, the AG recommended the enactment of a law authorizing the medical referral service office to operate under the executive branch, particularly in the governor’s office.
The AG said without this legal authorization, the governor’s office will have to “cease processing matters pertaining to the program.”
Last year, CHCC told lawmakers that the medical referral program was funded about $3 million only each year, “so every year there’s a deficit of $17 million or more.”
CHCC said transferring the medical referral program to the healthcare corporation would be “another mountain we have to climb.”
