MORE poor and needy Filipino patients and other qualified beneficiaries can expect more help from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) as it approved on Thursday the grant for 2012 of P193,100,000 endowment fund to 86 government hospitals.

This coincides with President Benigno S. Aquino III’s campaign promise of a universal health care for all Filipinos, PCSO officials said.

PCSO Chairperson Margarita P. Juico said the agency’s board approved the recommendation of the Fund and Allocation Department (PCSO-FAD) which identified the beneficiary hospitals located across the country.

Juico said any of the hospitals that will receive the fund grant may ask for more funds after their liquidation midway of the year if they still have more patients that needed treatment.

Aside from Juico, Board Directors Ma. Aleta L. Tolentino, Betty B. Nantes, and Francisco Joaquin III signed Board Resolution No. 026 of 2012 which “approves the grant of endowment funds to 86 government hospitals in the total amount of P193,100,000, charged to the Charity Fund, subject to availability of funds, and compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations.”

The resolution authorized the PCSO chairperson and  General Manager               Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II to enter into a memorandum of agreement  with                the concerned medical facilities.

They are in the National Capital Region (NCR), 12; Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR), three; Region I, five; Region II, six; Region III, eight; Region IV, eight; Region V, six; Region VI, four; Region VII, three; Region VIII, two; Region IX, four; Region X, three; Region XI, five; Region 12, three; CARAGA Region, 11; and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), three.

Rojas said the PCSO this year has started building up a stronger partnership with its institutional partners as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that perform charity work.

“The more partners we have and the stronger the partnership gets, the better for the indigent Filipinos who need medical and health care,” said Rojas.

“With the chairperson’s all-out support, the PCSO, its management and personnel are working hard to deliver its mission of spreading the charity virus to more Filipinos,” the PCSO general manager said.

Dr. Larry Cedro, PCSO-FAD manager and concurrent head of the Charity Clinic located at the Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP) recommended the endowment fund grants and identified the hospitals after an assessment was done.

PCSO is the main revenue-raising agency of the government for medical programs, health services, and charity of national character. -