SENIOR citizens who want to avail of the Long Life Medical Assistance Program (LLMAP) of the Cebu City government will now be required to present their prescriptions at the Office of Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) before their maintenance medicines can be released.
Those who are bedridden will have the medicines delivered to their house.
According to OSCA Executive Director Jeffrey Ocampo, senior citizens will have to present their valid ID and prescriptions provided that they are residents and registered voters of Cebu City.
Mayor Edgardo Labella said it is only right to have senior citizens present their prescriptions to make sure that the medicines given to them by the city are the ones that they are prescribed to take.
The program, which will benefit an estimated 77,000 registered senior citizens in Cebu City, provides monthlong supplies of maintenance medicines for hypertension, diabetes, and arthritis among others.
Former mayor Tomas Osmeña earlier faced complaints before the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas for allegedly endangering the lives of Cebuanos because prescription drugs were dispensed to LLMAP beneficiaries by out-of-school youths hired by City Hall instead of Barangay Health Workers (BHW).
The announcement on the new policy covering the distribution of maintenance medicines was made by Ocampo at the “Halad Alang sa mga Senior Citizens” held Tuesday, Oct. 15 at the Cebu City Hall grounds to celebrate Senior Citizens Month.
Senior citizens were treated with free massages, foot spas and eye check-ups during the event.
OSCA also announced that the distribution of the financial aid for senior citizens for the month will be on Oct. 26. (JJL)