HEALTH | UP-PGH, PLDT upgrade Action Center with Telemedicine Program
The hotline service aims to provide assistance to the public and manage the influx of patients to its COVID health care center.
MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Since the establishment of the University of the Philippines Manila-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) Bayanihan Na! COVID 19 Action Center on March 30, 2020, PLDT Enterprise has served as its backbone through its connectivity infrastructure, Hotline 155-200.
The hotline service, a joint effort between UP-PGH’s in-house IT Team and PLDT Enterprise Business Group, aims to provide assistance to the public and manage the influx of patients to its COVID health care center, by consulting with professionals regarding their symptoms, without having to visit the hospital.
As the center evolves to allow for a faster and more efficient response against COVID-19, University of the Philippines President Danilo L. Concepcion commissioned Unexus Medical Solutions, Inc. through NowheretogobutUP Foundation to create a more flexible and user-friendly helpline solution that adapts to the MedAlert platform.
Through joint efforts with Unexus, PLDT Enterprise will be powering up the said platform by leveraging on its business-grade fiber optic network, which today spans 322,000 km across the country. They will also be providing phone lines for the program to ensure seamless communication between doctors and patients. The platform will be used for UP-PGH Bayanihan Na! COVID 19 Action center to triage, queue patients and ensure accurate medical record-keeping.
“Technology has always improved the way we live, work, and play,” said Jovy Hernandez, ePLDT president & chief executive and senior vice president & head for PLDT and Smart Enterprise Business Groups. “During this difficult time, we must harness its use to make processes more efficient in order to save more lives. In the end, technology must be inclusive to improve the quality of life for each and every Filipino.”
As an additional layer of support to callers, the UP-PGH Bayanihan Na! COVID 19 Action Center offers a Telemedicine Program, also through the MedAlert platform. This will allow the Action center to escalate patients who require more in-depth assistance to volunteer doctors in different locations.
The platform will save and send medical records, prescriptions and other necessary documents through tablet devices with sims and SMS notifications. In response, PLDT Enterprise has committed to provide these volunteer doctors with the necessary support by giving them unlimited data, unlimited calls and texts for six months.
