The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) has vowed to continue improving its processes to lessen the lead time for those seeking various types of medical assistance from the agency. “Patuloy po nating pinag-aaralan kung ano pa ang pwedeng gawin, kung aling steps ang maaaring redundant na pwedeng tanggalin upang lalong mapabilis ang pag-release ng ating (We continue to study what needed to be done further, what redundant steps can be removed to further expedite the releasing of) guarantee letters,” PCSO Chairman Junie Cua said in a statement on Monday. “We understand that there is an urgency to the need of our constituents, that’s why we are committed towards making the process more efficient, which is also in line with Pres. Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s call to improve the public’s access to healthcare,” he added. Cua pointed out that what used to take up to a week’s wait has now been cut down to as early as within the day of request in the National Capital Region, where the application process has now been shifted online through the PCSO website. As for PCSO branches throughout the country, he said guarantee letters (GLs) for medical assistance for confinement/hospitalization are also released within the day. For other requests, however, such as assistance for diagnostic procedures, specialty medicines, cancer treatment, hemodialysis, dialysis injection, implant devices, and patients are sometimes advised to return after two days to claim their GLs. Cua said plans are ongoing to digitize processes even at PCSO branches. “Humihingi lang po kami ng kaunting paunawa sa ngayon dahil ang realidad ay hindi pa naman natin kayang i-absorb ang request ng lahat ng lumalapit. Ngunit pagsusumikapan po namin na lalo pang mapadami ang bilang ng kaya natin i-accommodate araw-araw (We are asking for little understanding for the moment because the reality is we still cannot absorb all the requests. But we will strive to further increase the number of request that that we can accommodate daily),” he said.
Source: Philippines News Agency
