Duterte wants resignation letters of PhilHealth officials filed Tuesday: Duque

MANILA - Health secretary Francisco Duque III said President Rodrigo Duterte sought a "clean slate" in PhilHealth, and was expecting executives to file in their resignation letters Tuesday.

"The marching order is quite clear and that again he expects that the letters of resignation will be filed by the end of the day and he would like to have a clean slate and he would like to study the challenges confronting PhilHealth," Duque said Tuesday.

This came after PhilHealth lost some P300 million to "ghost" patients and deliveries. Earlier last week, Inquirer reported that WellMed Dialysis Clinic in Quezon City filed claims with PhilHealth for dialysis procedures on patients who have long been dead.

Duque added that the president was considering hiring accountants from SGV to "audit the operating systems and the management systems of PhilHealth."

Duque called on healthcare providers to be "very very careful about your intent," citing the alleged ghost dialysis claims as "criminal."

"There is an intent to cheat the system," he said.

The National Bureau of Investigation on Monday arrested Brian Sy, owner of the WellMed Dialysis Center on charges of estafa, falsification of public documents, and violation of the PhilHealth law.

But Duque also believes there was an "inside job" in granting such claims.

"There is a possibility of connivance, I think because it is impossible that this is happening without somebody from the inside," he said.