DOJ to prosecute owner of dialysis center

June 11, 2019

The Department of Justice has been asked to prosecute the co-owner of WellMed Dialysis and Laboratory Center, in connection with the "ghost" dialysis claims amounting to billions of pesos paid by state-owned Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

The National Bureau of Investigation ( NBI) filed charges of estafa under Article 315, of Revised Penal Code and falsification of documents under Article 172 in relation to Art. 171 of Revised Penal Code against Bryan Sy, who was arrested last Monday by NBI agents.

Sy was brought to the DOJ for inquest.

The NBI filed the complaint on behalf of PhilHealth after two former employees of the Quezon City - based dialysis center accused Sy of filing benefit claims with PhilHealth on behalf of dead patients and taking advantage of a loophole in the patient’s death reporting system of PhilHealth.

The NBI complaint also named other WellMed executives as respondents - John Ray Gonzales, medical director; Claro Sy, chairman; Alvin Sy, corporate treasurer;

Therese Francesca Tan, purchasing officer; Dick Ong, administration officer; and physicians Dr. Porshia Natividad and Joemie Soriano.

The complaint also listed whistleblowers Edwin Roberto and Liezel Aileen De Leon, who exposed the clinic’s alleged “ghost dialysis scandal.”

The NBI accused the WellMed executives that the clinic received payments from PhilHealth for dialysis treatments even though some of the patients have long been dead.

Roberto, former assistant manager of Wellmed, claimed in his sworn statement it was Sy who ordered him on March 30, 2016 to charge PhilHealth with claims of two dead patients amounting to P2,600. De Leon was said to be instructed by Sy to prepare the forms.

In his affidavit, Roberto claimed that before he resigned in March 2018, PhilHealth paid WellMed a total of P600,600 consisting of 200 sessions from dead patients.

There was also an unpaid claim of P208,000 for 80 sessions which he said was later paid.

Roberto said PhilHealth settled a total of 27 claims amounting to P808,600.

The NBI also submitted the affidavit of John Cueto, a PhilHealth special investigator, who said WellMed continues to give PhilHealth reimbursement forms for their patients.

Sy, Roberto and De Leon were arrested while attending NBI’s probe on Monday afternoon. DMS