CEBU CITY — Governor Arthur Yap has bared his plan to modernize health services in province-run hospitals and clinics in Bohol by breaking barriers through technology to pave the way for annual medical checkup of all Boholanos.
Yap on Wednesday said the provincial government will adopt globally known best practices to improve the delivery of health services and bat for early detection of ailments through the “community doctor-and-nurse tandems”.
To materialize the plan, Yap reported that the provincial government is ready to spend P460 million for the improvement of 10 district hospitals — three in the first district, four in the second district and three in the third district.
Seven of the 10 province-run district hospitals are classified as primary care facilities or infirmaries. These are the Cong. Simeon Toribio Hospital in Carmen, Cong. Natalio Castillo Hospital in Loon, Candijay Community Hospital, Maribojoc Community Hospital, Clarin Community Hospital, Francisco Dagohoy Memorial Hospital in Inabanga and President Carlos P. Garcia Community Hospital in Carlos P. Garcia.
Yap announced during the first full council meeting of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) on Feb. 18 his directive to create a baseline data for the medical status of all Boholanos to better plot a Provincial Disease Prevention and Curative Plan.
“We need to know the cost of disease in Bohol so we can prepare for prevention instead of expensive mode of curing afflicted patients,” he said.
To achieve this, the provincial government will map out a program on early detection of ailments through community doctor-and-nurse tandems.
The disease prevention plan, he said, would be coupled with an electronic health record (EHR) system that would make it easier for constituents to avail of assistance in medical checkups and hospitalization without queuing at the Capitol.
Yap said he took seriously the inputs from former Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial who paid a courtesy visit on Feb. 17 and shared notes for the establishment of an effective program on early detection of ailments.
The Ubial model, he said, underscored the tandem of doctors and nurses in monitoring health conditions of the people without swamping government hospitals with patients.
The provincial government needs to digitize the medical record of the people and establish a data bank to determine the interventions needed, he also said.
To build up data banking, Yap said his constituents need to subject themselves to an annual medical checkup.
Through the medical checkup, each patient will be listed as a member or beneficiary and will be given a card with a chip that will store medical records retrievable through mobile phone scanning-capable QR code.
“So, we are empowering the citizens because the assistance is already in their hands. You don’t need to go to the Capitol to get for AICS (Aid to Individuals in Crisis Situations),” Yap said, adding that “the burden of the disease tells us the cost of the disease”. (John Rey Saavedra with report from Angeline Valencia/PNA)