The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) is encouraging Negrenses to avail of services under the Yaman ng Kalusugan Program (YAKAP), an enhanced primary care benefit package that focuses on preventive and promotive healthcare.
Dr. Amalia Fernandez, medical specialist of PhilHealth-Western Visayas Benefits Administration section, said members and their dependents can enlist using their identification number with the nearest YAKAP provider in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental.
“We have a very good program on preventive care, for diseases that we can prevent and not get worse,” she said at a press forum here Friday.
Aside from registering with the chosen YAKAP provider, they can also register through the eGovPH app, PhilHealth member portal or local PhilHealth office.
Members are advised to go to the YAKAP clinic where they are registered for an initial consultation.
In this highly urbanized city, the YAKAP services providers include the City Health Office, Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital and Medisense Laboratory Center.
YAKAP services include 13 free laboratory tests: complete blood count with platelet count, lipid profile, fasting blood sugar, oral glucose tolerance test, glycosylated hemoglobin, creatinine, chest X-ray, sputum microscopy, electrocardiogram, urinalysis, pap smear, fecalysis and fecal occult blood test.
Also offered for free are six cancer-screening tests — breast ultrasound and mammogram for breast cancer, alpha-fetoprotein and liver ultrasound for liver for liver cancer, low-dose chest CT (computed tomography) scan for lung cancer, and colonoscopy for colorectal cancer.
Available as well are 75 types of medicines for free at select clinics and pharmacies, with a limit of PHP20,000 per year.
These cover antibiotics and anti-infectious, anti-dyslipidemia and anti-thrombotic, pain relief and supportive medicines; anti-asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; high blood and heart medicines; blood sugar control; and nerve pain.
PhilHealth Corporate Memo No. 2025-0039 states that YAKAP integrates primary care services with outpatient laboratory diagnostics and pharmaceutical benefits and refines the model by expanding access points, improving provider incentives, and strengthening care coordination. (PNA)
