Amid criticisms, the Department of Health (DOH) said that its plan to purchase four “high-end” laptops worth P700,000 has already been cancelled.
DOH Knowledge Management and Information Technology Service Head Dr. Eric Tayag said that they cancelled the planned procurement because a hospital in Baguio City is in need of funds.
“Kinancel na po namin yan sapagkat naghahanap kami ng funds para sa kailangan po ng aming CHD particularly diyan sa Baguio General Hospital Medical Center (We have canceled that because we are looking for funds that is needed by our CHD, particularly there at the Baguio General Hospital Medical Center),” said Tayag during the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on Wednesday, Aug. 18.
“Pero bago po namin kinansela iyan, iyan pong mga laptop pong yan ay gagamitin sana ng aming mga developers. Hindi naman po puwede Mr. Chair na ordinaryong laptop lamang po (But before we canceled that, those laptops were supposedly for our developers. We cannot use ordinary laptops, Mr. Chair),” he noted.
Tayag maintained that the DOH needed “upgraded” laptops for doing data analysis.
“Yung opisina ko po... kasi kailangan po namin. Kasi kami po ang gumagawa ng mga registry, halimbawa, yung bakuna registry, kailangan po namin mailagay at ma-visualize para maiparating sa mga policymakers kung ano na po yung datos at kailangan na po sapagkat may analytics din (My office (requested that) because we need it. We are doing registries, for example, the vaccine registry, we need to put and visualize it for the policymakers---to provide them data and analysis),” explained Tayag.
“So kailangan talaga ng mas upgraded na computer po. Kung ordinary lang, mabagal (So we really need a more upgraded computer. If it's ordinary, it's slow),” he added.
When asked why the DOH did not specify a specific laptop brand, Tayag replied: “Specs lang ang nilalagay namin. Bawal po kaming maglagay ng brand (We only put specifications. We are not allowed to name brands).”
To note, based on a document from the DOH last Aug. 4, the agency is set to purchase four "High-End 2-in-1 Laptop with Accessories" worth P700,000.