National health info system at DOH needed—Gordon

FILE –Senator Richard “Dick” Gordon. 

MANILA, Philippines—Senator Richard Gordon on Wednesday stressed the need for a national health information system at the Department of Health that could help authorities and medical workers monitor patients’ medical records.

The national health information system, Gordan said, can be positioned inside DOH warehouses. It will contain the patients’ medical histories, making it easier for medical professionals to respond to queries especially during a health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gordan added that the DOH can implement the information system even without waiting for the National ID.

“Wala silang information system, dapat meron niyan. Sa mga bodega, dapat one patient, one record sa buong Pilipinas. Sa mga computer makikita mo ito ang mga sakit ng isang pasyente. Dapat nagawa na iyan matagal na. Hindi na natin kailangang hintayin ‘yung National ID System para magawa ‘yan,” said Gordon.

(They don’t have an information system, they should have one. Inside warehouses, one patient should have one record in the whole country. Through the use computers, you can see the patient’s list of ailments. This should’ve been done long ago. We don’t need to wait for the National ID System to do this.)

Gordon, who is also the chairman of the Philippine Red Cross and also of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, said the national health information system would make it easier to monitor the progress of one patient’s diseases, the number of people vaccinated and those who’ve already been tested in the case of COVID-19.

“Mas madali nating ma-monitor kung ilan na mga nagagamot natin, o nababakunahan, o ilan na ang mga taong na-test na natin. Napakahirap gawin niyan kung ngayon pa lang natin gagawin, dapat noong araw pa nagawa na,” said Gordon.

(It’d be easier to monitor everyone who was healed, or vaccinated, or how many people have been tested. This is difficult to implement if we’re only doing this now and that this should’ve been done a long time ago.)