DOH-Davao: COVID-19 vaccines free, report hospitals asking for payment

"Kung sino man ‘yung nag-report (Those who reported), they can make an official complaint to the DOH and we will do an action on it, we will do an investigation," Dr. Annabelle Yumang, regional director of the DOH said in a press conference Thursday, June 10, in response to reports that there were hospitals that asked payment for the vaccines.
Yumang said they have not yet received any reports on this and added that the DOH will start to deploy personnel in hospitals to make sure that no payments were collected from vaccine recipients.
"Kahit wala pa ‘yung complaint, we will be deploying... maglagay kami ng DOH employees doon sa mga hospitals natin to ensure talaga na walang bayaran na ginagawa ‘yung mga hospitals (from) the vaccinees kasi bawal po ‘yan (Even if there is no complaint filed yet, we will be deploying DOH personnel in hospitals to make ensure that they are not collecting payments from the vaccinees because that is prohibited)," she said. "The vaccines are free, wala siyang bayad, libre ‘yung bakuna at hindi dapat nagpapabayad ‘yung mga hospitals (The vaccines are free and hospitals should not collect payments)," she added.
Yumang also said that during their meeting with hospital medical directors, it was agreed that hospitals will pay for the salaries of the vaccinators or their vaccination team.
She said hospitals asked from the DOH regional office Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and logistics, including those used for disinfection.
"Other than that, sila na po ‘yung gumagastos, like the food for the vaccination team and so on (Other than that, they are the ones that shoulder expenses like the food for the vaccination team and so on)," she said.