HUNDREDS of applicants for medical assistance and their families trooped to the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center on August 20 to avail themselves of the Individual Medical Assistance Program (Imap) of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).
The PCSO program was in Pampanga to ease the process of availing of medical assistance for sick Kampangans as well as those in need of assistance for life-long treatment.
Imap is one of the flagship programs of PCSO and is intended to provide timely financial assistance to individuals with health-related problems.
Governor Dennis Pineda and Vice Governor Lilia Pineda thanked PCSO for bringing its health programs closer to Kapampangan patients.
Amid controversies besetting PCSO, Marie Louise Serojales, consultant to the office of the PCSO General Manager, is positive that their agency will continue its health care services for the poor.
"Our direct health care services for the poor will still be available," Serojales said.
Since Pineda took office in 2012, the financial assistance of the PCSO for chemotherapy, dialysis and other illnesses reached P1.277 billion, benefiting around 46,000 Kapampangans.
"Through this program, beneficiaries will be provided with specific amount of financial assistance to help them pay their hospitalization, laboratories, dialysis, and chemotherapy bills depending on their needs," Serojales said.
In 2017, the Provincial Government funded P20 million for the newly constructed building, warehouse, and for the equipment of the PCSO provincial office located in Barangay Maimpis, City of San Fernando.
The building is expected to provide ease to Kapampangans as they wait for their assistance instead of going to Manila.