Here’s how many PPEs and test kits PhilHealth’s stolen funds could’ve bought

Spoiler: It would’ve done a lot of good

By now, you’ve probably heard of the PhilHealth and the issue of PHP 15 billion stolen funds. In a Senate hearing, whistleblower Thorrsson Montes Keith, who resigned as the agency’s anti-fraud officer due to the widespread corruption, claimed that the amount was pocketed by a deeply-rooted ‘mafia’ in schemes he labeled as the ‘crime of the year’.

The news of stolen health funds come at the worst time when the country is in the middle of a pandemic. There is no shortage of stories on families not receiving financial assistance, overworked yet underpaid frontliners, and students struggling to cope with distance learning due to lack of access to the proper technology.

Senator Kiko Pangilinan recently revealed the potential good that the amount could’ve done in addressing these issues, if not for the corruption.

‘Test kits. Ayuda. PPEs. Sahod…Sa tingin ninyo, hanggang saan pa sana puwede umabot ang P15,000,000,000?’, he tweeted.

P15,000,000,000!

P15 billion daw ang halaga ng nakurakot sa PhilHealth. That is equivalent to over 11 million UP test kits!

Test kits. Ayuda. PPEs. Sahod…Sa tingin ninyo, hanggang saan pa sana puwede umabot ang P15,000,000,000? pic.twitter.com/DyC2ib1oNY

— Kiko Pangilinan (@kikopangilinan) August 5, 2020

According to Pangilinan, the funds would’ve bought over 11 million UP test kits, which could’ve helped in accelerating the government’s testing efforts. Other uses would’ve been 1 million laptops for students, 10 million PPEs for frontliners, PHP 30,000 salary pay for 500,000 nurses, much-needed ayuda for 3 million families, and 5.7 million dialysis treatments.

The post <b> Here’s how many PPEs and test kits PhilHealth’s stolen funds could’ve bought </b> appeared first on WE THE PVBLIC.

Source: we the pvblic