KAKAMMPI News

PhilHealth reiterates its commitment to pay its obligations to its partner hospitals. It has sufficient funds to fulfill its obligations. Being a public fund, safeguards are in place based on accounting and auditing rules and regulations prior to disbursements. For 2021, as of May 17, 2021, PhilHealth paid a total of P25.38 B in claims, P4.88B of which are for COVID-19 related claims. Recognizing the need of the hospitals for funds especially in highly critical areas for COVID as identified by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Infectious Diseases, PhilHealth has introduced the Debit-Credit Payment Method (DCPM) wherein 60% of good “in process claims” are paid outright to qualified hospitals minus 2% withholding tax, while the remaining 40% shall be paid after claims processing and reconciliation, minus 2% withholding tax. The accelerated payment method provides hospitals sufficient cash flow to continue providing the sick with quality health care dur...

Katrina Domingo, ABS-CBN News Posted at May 24 2021 03:37 PM MANILA — The Philippines will receive 2.3 million COVID-19 shots from US-based Pfizer-BioNTech "not later than June," an official leading the vaccination strategy said on Thursday. Vaccine-sharing COVAX Facility wrote to the Philippines saying it would deliver 2,385,210 Pfizer jabs "not later than June," said Carlito Galvez Jr, chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19. Pfizer and Philippine authorities are finalizing a deal on legal immunity and who will shoulder compensation in case of adverse effects from the vaccine, Galvez said. "Napaka-cordial, napakabait nga po ng Pfizer... Kahit mayroon tayong tinatawag na challenges, legal challenges, talagang hindi nila binago iyong kanilang tinatawag na offer sa atin," he said in a press briefing. "Isa po sa pinakamababa na presyo ang Pfizer, sumunod doon sa AstraZeneca. Ang ganda ng presyo sa atin." (Pfizer is v...

Reuters Posted at May 24 2021 01:43 PM BENGALURU - India's overall death toll from COVID-19 crossed 300,000 on Monday, as it reported 4,454 deaths over the last 24 hours. The South Asian country's total coronavirus cases are now at 26.75 million, while total fatalities are at 303,720, according to health ministry data. (Reporting by Anuron Kumar Mitra in Bengaluru; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Chan Ho-him, South China Morning Post Posted at May 24 2021 01:57 PM Parents spoke of their relief on Monday as Hong Kong schools and kindergartens returned to full capacity for the first time in more than six months under a relaxation of Covid-19 rules, with about 900,000 pupils welcomed back on campus for half days. "I'm really happy. When I first heard the news about a full resumption I felt like 'finally we can return to school'," said Mable Wong, in her 40s, who has two children at a local primary school in Yau Ma Tei. Another mother, Kelly Tam, said: "With a full capacity resumption, children can return to a relatively normal social life and can move around outside home. "Parents have been under pressure too, having children at home for such a long time. Face-to-face learning is also a lot more efficient." Under the latest relaxation of pandemic control measures, city schools are allowed to have all students back on campus at the same t...

The Conversation via Reuters Alarm bells rang internationally last week when Taiwan announced it was moving to its second highest COVID alert level after a recent surge of cases. The country last year recorded zero cases of community transmission for eight straight months. The recent increase in cases has led many people to wonder: what happened to Taiwan’s COVID success story? One part of the answer is a very slow vaccine rollout. Australia should take heed. On May 9, Taiwan recorded zero new community cases of COVID-19 (there was one imported case in quarantine). But only five days later, new local cases had risen exponentially to 29, and then to a peak of 333 on May 17. And on Saturday, the country’s health department retrospectively added an extra 400 cases to the previous week which were not included in earlier reports. Although these numbers are still very low in comparison to many other countries, the fact that these new cases were spread across many cities and counties a...

Kiyoshi Takenaka, Reuters Posted at May 24 2021 01:10 PM * Exhausted doctors warn of a "system collapse" * Region accounted for third of Japan's death toll in May * Swamping of health system highlights challenge of Olympics * Just half of Japan's medical staff completed inoculations OSAKA, Japan - Hospitals in Japan's second largest city of Osaka are buckling under a huge wave of new coronavirus infections, running out of beds and ventilators as exhausted doctors warn of a "system collapse", and advise against holding the Olympics this summer. Japan's western region home to 9 million people is suffering the brunt of the fourth wave of the pandemic, accounting for a third of the nation's death toll in May, although it constitutes just 7% of its population. The speed at which Osaka's healthcare system was overwhelmed underscores the challenges of hosting a major global sports event in two months' time, particularly as only about ha...

Rami Ayyub, Reuters Posted at May 13 2021 03:29 PM JERUSALEM — Weeks of violent clashes in East Jerusalem have ignited the heaviest fighting in years between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. At the core of the violence that has left dozens dead are tensions between Israelis and Palestinians over Jerusalem, which contains sites sacred to Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. As both sides appear to be digging in for more prolonged fighting, here are some of the factors that triggered the escalation AMADAN PROTESTS, JERUSALEM EVICTIONS Since the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in mid-April, Palestinians have faced off nightly with Israeli police in East Jerusalem, who put up barriers to stop evening gatherings at the walled Old City's Damascus Gate. Palestinians saw the barriers as a restriction on their freedom to assemble. Police said they were there to maintain order. Tensions have also been high over a long-running legal case that could see m...