KORONADAL CITY, South Cotabato (PIA) -- Twenty healthcare providers in General Santos City and Sarangani Province are now accredited as Konsultasyong Sulit at Tama (KonSulTa) providers of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) in Socssksargen Region.  

The number, according to PhilHealth XII public relations officer 3 Hanah Naanep, is already over 100 percent of the target KonSulTa program partners of the General Santos City Local Health Insurance Office  (LHIO) in the mentioned areas. 

Of the 20 accredited KonSulTa providers, 14 are located in General Santos City. These are St. Elizabeth Hospital, Inc., St. Elizabeth Hospital – Alabel Satellite Clinic, Apopong Rural Health Unit (RHU), Baluan RHU, Bula RHU,  Calumpang RHU, Fatima RHU, Labangal RHU, Tambler RHU, West RHU, Tinagacan RHU, Conel RHU, Gensan Medical Center, and Sarangani Bay Specialists Medical Center, Inc.

The remaining six are in Sarangani, particularly: Alabel RHU, Glan RHU Malapatan RHU , Malungon RHU,  Kiamba RHU, and Sarangani Provincial Hospital. 

Five of the KonSulTa providers  in the jurisdiction of Gensan LHIO have already installed "My PhilHealth Portal,"  an online facility for registration of members to KonSulTa program, Naanep said. 

As of August 31, Gensan LHIO  has already registered 36,283 beneficiaries for the KonSulTa program. Most of these beneficiaries are registered through  Polomolok RHU in South Cotabato with 26,033 registered members, followed by RHU Malungon (5,759), Howard Hubbard Hospital in Polomolok (426), Sarangani Provincial Hospital (391), and RHU Alabel (240). 

As of press time,  PhilHealth has already accredited 59 KonSulTa providers across Soccsksargen Region or Region 12.  These consist of 16 healthcare facilities in South Cotabato, 6 in Sarangani, 14 in General Santos, 12 in Sultan Kudarat, and 11 in North Cotabato. 

KonSulTa is a PhiHealth service in support of the national government's Universal Health Care (UHC) program.  It offers free checkups, laboratory services, and medicines.  

Under the program, a PhilHealth member can select a preferred healthcare provider as initial point of contact and navigator of needs for higher level of health services. 

KonSulTa provides free anti-microbial drugs, anti-asthma medicines, antipyretics , anti-dyslipidemia , anti-diabetic drugs, anti-hypertensive drugs, anti-thrombotic medicines, and antihistamine.

Laboratory services include CBC with platelet count, urinalysis, fecalysis, sputum microscopy, fecal occult blood test, pap smear, lipid profile, fasting blood sugar, oral glucose tolerance test, ECG, chest x-ray, creatinine and hemoglobin A1C test. (With reports from PhilHealth XII/PIA-XII)