Pasay City, Philippines — The Phi Kappa Mu fraternity and Phil Lambda Delta sorority from the University of the Philippines Manila – College of Medicine donated 38 Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) monitors to the Pasay City Health Office during the flag-raising ceremonies on January 24, 2011 at the Pasay City Hall grounds.
Pasay City Mayor Antonino “Tony” G. Calixto and City Health Officer Dr. Cesar F. Encinares received the LCD monitors from Phi’s project head Jose Antonio T. Paulino (UPCM 2014). The LCD monitors will replace the current CRT monitors in Lagrosa, Malibay, Dona Marta, San Isidro, M. Dela Cruz, Dona Nena, and Kalayaan health centers. These health centers are implementation sites for the Community Health Information Tracking System (CHITS), an electronic medical record system for government health centers developed by the UP Manila – National Telehealth Center (UPM-NThC).
The other LCD monitors will be given to the 4 health centers (Cuyegkeng, Leveriza, Ventanilla, and San Roque) which will soon be automating their health center transactions. This will complete the 14 health centers of Pasay City and becoming the first ever city-wide health information system.
“Napakalaking tulong ito sa amin dito sa Pasay (This is a very big help to us in Pasay), said Mayor Calixto upon receiving the LCD monitors. Pasay City councilors Mary Grace Santos, Edita Vergel de Dios, and Ian Vendivel were also present during the simple rites.
“Lagrosa and Malibay health centers badly need their monitors replaced,” said Dr. Marie Irene R. Sy, Medical Officer V of Pasay City Health Office. Lagrosa and Malibay health centers were the pilot-sites for the implementation of CHITS in 2004 and they have been using CRT monitors. “The health workers are already excited about it,” continued Dr. Sy.
The LCD monitors from the Phi Kappa Mu fraternity and the Phi Lambda Delta sorority have been collected and provided by the Phi International, the fraternity’s US-based alumni brods spearheaded by Dr. Jess Socrates, together with their sorority sisters. Phi LIVE” project is an ongoing endeavor of equipping classrooms and health related facilities with hardware that could help in education and service providing. Excellence, being a core value of a Phi, the fraternity and sorority has already given 42 LCD monitors to the UP College of Medicine, particularly the Multi Disciplinary Laboratories in the Paz Mendoza Building located in the said campus. Monitors will also be given to the Philippine General Hospital, to improve on the current hardware that need to be replaced.
“This year, Phi would want to extend the project out of the college and in to the facilities and institutions who could make the most out of the hardware,” expressed Paulino. “At the same time, we are also distributing monitors within the UP campuses.”
Phi LIVE Project head is Jose Antonio T. Paulino, a 2nd year UP College of Medicine Student and his project assistant head, Ashraf A. Tawasil, a first year student, also from the UP College of Medicine. Other fraternity and sorority members such as Jason Panganiban, Ashraf Tawasil, Kenneth Mendoza and Julie Reyes were present during the ceremonial turnover.
UPM-NThC Coordinator for Research and Development Dr. Ryan Julius A. Bañez (Φ 2002) and CHITS Project Coordinator Noel A. Bañez were in attendance during the turnover ceremonies.
With the replacement of the CRT monitors to LCD of the Pasay City health centers with CHITS, this will boost the Pasay City Health Office to push its campaign towards the first city-wide implementation of CHITS in health centers which will ensure quality and efficient delivery of health care services to the citizens of Pasay City.