Vice President Leni Robredo announced that her office’s free medical teleconsultation services will also be made available starting this week to people in her hometown in the third district of Camarines Sur.
Calling it Bayanihan E-Ataman, Robredo noted this will be similar to the Bayanihan E-Konsulta that the Office of the Vice President (OVP) currently runs in the National Capital Region Plus (NCR Plus), or areas under the general community quarantine classification.
“The program is a take off from our Bayanihan E-Konsulta here in NCR Plus and would include giving of COVID Care Kits and Daily Patient Monitoring of COVID positive patients who are isolating at home,” she said in a Facebook post Monday, May 17.
READ: https://mb.com.ph/2021/04/07/how-to-get-online-medical-consultation-with-ovps-bayanihan-e-konsulta/
The vice president shared that her office has been receiving a lot of requests to partner for the teleconsultation services, but she stressed that with their “limited resources,” they’re only willing to bring the program to the local government unit (LGU) if they can provide local partners and volunteers that will help run the program.
“We are open to more partnerships. While we want to do this on a wider scale, we need to have a partnerships on the ground given our limitations,” she said.
Robredo added that they have trained barangay health workers (BHWs) from the third district of Camarines Sur with the help of Rep. Gabriel Bordado, a partymate in the opposition Liberal Party which she chairs.
“The past several days were devoted to BHW orientation to ensure the uniformity and seamlessness of our protocols.”
Similar to the Bayanihan E-Konsulta that provides a COVID-19 care kit for the patients in the NCR Plus region, the Bayanihan E-Ataman will “incentivize” those who will have themselves checked online, too.
Under the original Bayanihan E-Konsulta, the OVP sent COVID care kits to the patients. The kits include a digital thermometer, pulse oximeter, face masks, basic medications, and a COVID-19 monitoring sheet. These were made possible with donations and private partnerships.
READ: https://mb.com.ph/2021/04/28/covid-care-kits-only-for-patients-of-bayanihan-e-konsulta-robredo/
For the Bayanihan E-Ataman, Robredo said they are willing to provide medical supplies such as the pulse oximeter to make regular monitoring possible.
“Iyong mga naka-lockdown ay tutulungan natin (Those who are in lockdown, we will help) as far as supplies are concerned, magbibigay tayo ng mga equipment sa BHWs—parang pinapahiram iyong equipment (we are going to give equipment to the BHWs—it’s like lending them the equipment),” she said during her last Sunday’s radio show.
The LGU has enlisted volunteer and partner doctors from the Bicol Medical Center.
“Pero ito po, magagawa namin dahil iyong office ni Cong(ressman) Gabby Bordado ay nakipag-partner with us. So iyong iba pong nagtatanong: Willing po kami, willing po kami as long as may partner tayo na LGU o local (This one we are able to do because the office of Congressman Gabby Bordado partnered with us. So for those who are asking: we are willing, we are willing as long as we have a partner LGU or local),” Robredo explained.
Her office only has meager resources, so she’s open to other LGUs replicating her projects such as the free medical teleconsultation, which she launched in early April to decongest hospitals and provide medical advice to patients who do not have the capacity to consult with a doctor.