Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 24) — All transactions at the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) were done over the counter due to a cyberattack over the weekend, an official of the state health insurer said Sunday.
\”Sa ngayon kasi we temporarily shut down all of the systems to make sure ma-reconfigure natin lahat ng systems na naapektuhan,\” PhilHealth Senior Vice President for Health Finance Policy Israel Francis Pargas told CNN Philippines’ Newsroom Weekend.
\”Sa halip na merong sistema na ginagamit, babalik muna tayo sa manual operations,\” Pargas said.
[Translation: Right now we temporarily shut down all of the systems to make sure we can reconfigure all the systems that were affected. Instead of using a system, we will go back to manual operations.]
Members and their dependents are advised to present a copy of their PhilHealth identification card, member data record, or other supporting documents to access health benefits amid the temporary shutdown of its online system.
Meanwhile, Pargas told employers, along with professionals and self-employed individuals, to pay their premium contributions over the counter or to PhilHealth-accredited collecting agents.
\”Ganun din po kung kailangan magpamiyembro at may mga question, kailangan po pumunta muna tayo sa opisina ng PhilHealth dahil down po ang ating website at member portal, so wala din tayong online transactions,\” Pargas said.
[Translation: Likewise, for membership questions, you must first go to the PhilHealth office because our website and member portal are down, so we do not have online transactions.]
On Saturday, PhilHealth informed the public of a temporary system downtime while it was investigating and \”implementing containment measures\” against a cyberattack.
The state health insurer assured that no personal or medical information had been compromised as it expressed hope that the systems will be back online on Monday, Sept. 25.
Pargas said PhilHealth, along with other government agencies, has identified around 72 workstations affected, mostly in its head office and NCR office.
