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PH Red Cross welcomes new DOH directive for PhilHealth to cover saliva RT-PCR tests
PH Red Cross welcomes new DOH directive for PhilHealth to cover saliva RT-PCR tests
The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) welcomed the new directive from the Department of Health (DOH) for the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) to include saliva-based Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) testing in its benefit packages.
PRC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Senator Richard Gordon, in a statement issued Monday, April 5, welcomed the new directives from Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.
Duque signed the Department of Health (DOH) Memorandum No. 2021-0161 on March 31 clarifying the interim guidelines for saliva testing for the unified implementation of its regional offices.
“The department now allows only the RT-PCR processing of saliva samples by licensed laboratories with special certification issued by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM),” PRC said.
Moreover, PRC noted that the DOH instructed PhilHealth to “develop the appropriate payment and provider engagement mechanisms for saliva-based PCR testing,” with no additional payments beyond the PhilHealth coverage to be charged to the patients.
“The directive came three months after the DOH first approved the use of saliva as an alternative to nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab among PRC laboratories,” PRC said.
Gordon, who introduced the cheaper, faster, and non-invasive saliva tests for PhilHealth members, welcomed the move, especially now that the country is reporting an unprecedented second surge of COVID-19 cases.
“Sa wakas ay mas mapapamura pa natin ang saliva tests. Mas mahihikayat ang ating mga kababayan na regular na magpa-test, lalo na ang ating labor force na araw-araw ay maaaring nae-expose sa virus sa kanilang trabaho (Finally, we can make saliva tests even cheaper. Our countrymen will be more encouraged to take regular tests, especially our labor force who may be exposed to the virus on a daily basis in their work),”Gordon said.
Costing P2,000 each - which is almost half the price of a swab test - PRC noted that the saliva test also minimizes the risk of exposure and transmission of the virus to healthcare workers.
PRC said that it is “now only waiting for PhilHealth to finalize and release the guidelines for the charging of the saliva tests.”