Taguig City offers residents online medical consultation during Luzon quarantine

MANILA, Philippines — Taguig City residents can now get medical consultation online or by text messages through the city government’s “Telemedicine” program.

The program said the city government, is a measure to lessen personal contact with health workers while the enhanced community quarantine is being enforced in Luzon.

Taguig Mayor Lino Cayetano said Friday that while all 31 health centers of the city and its three “Super Health Centers” remain operational in operation during the quarantine, “Telemedicine” allows residents to seek medical assistance from inside their homes.

He said health workers will also deliver medicines to the doorsteps of Taguig residents, and that medical services like immunization will be done house-to-house.

Cayetano said this program will also ensure that health workers are protected since consultations will not be physically conducted.

“We want to make sure the health of Taguigeños remains protected amid this COVID-19 pandemic,” he said in a statement.

To avail of the Telemedicine program, Taguig City residents will need to contact the designated Telemed contact number of their respective barangays, which is manned by staffers of the Taguig City Health Office (CHO). The CHO will accept text messages from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. In case of emergencies, residents can also go directly to the Taguig-Pateros District Hospital, said Cayetano.

After getting all the necessary details, the CHO will then refer the case to a doctor, nurse or midwife, who will determine the course of action and text or call the patient to give instructions. All health centers of the city are also equipped for the “teleconsultations.”

If medicine is needed, the doctor or nurse will then give instructions for the delivery of the medicine or other health needs to the residence of the patient, according to the mayor.

“Only two barangay health workers will deliver the medicine, which shall be placed on a chair outside the patient’s home. The medical worker shall also determine whether the patient needs further medical evaluation in a health center or hospital,” read a press statement from the local government unit.

According to Cayetano, city health workers will also make rounds in all barangays to deliver maintenance medicines for diabetes, hypertension and asthma, and medication for tuberculosis and the human immunodeficiency virus, as well as reproductive control items like birth control pills.

/MUF