Dialysis clinic owner faces NBI probe of alleged 'ghost' claims

ABS-CBN News

Posted at Jun 10 2019 03:17 PM | Updated as of Jun 10 2019 06:50 PM

MANILA- The owner of the dialysis center accused of making "ghost" claims to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp (PhilHealth) faced the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Monday.

Dr. Brian Sy, owner of the WellMed Dialysis Center in Quezon City explained to the NBI that former employees of the clinic were the ones supposedly involved in fraudulent claims.

The clinic was accused of filing "ghost" claims to PhilHealth as revealed by Edwin Roberto, a former employee.

Roberto also faced the NBI Monday for questioning along with Liezel Aileen Santos, the former Philhealth officer of WellMed Dialysis Center.

Under the scheme, the clinic receives payments from PhilHealth for dialysis treatments even though some of the patients have long been dead.

President Rodrigo Duterte over the weekend ordered the arrest of Sy over the nonexistent kidney treatments.

"I tell them, 'Arrest the idiot, bring him to Malacañang'," he said in an interview over Pastor Apollo Quiboloy's television show on Sonshine Media Network.

"I will ask him, 'Tell me the truth and I will throw you to the river.' But he will be extricated, we will not allow him to be drowned," he said.

-report from Nikolo Baua, ABS-CBN News