Robredo to revive Bayanihan e-Konsulta, calls for volunteers

MANILA, Philippines — Former Vice President Leni Robredo will revive Bayanihan e-Konsulta, a free telemedicine channel, and is calling for volunteers to run the service to help mitigate the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the country,

The service, launched by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) under Robredo’s leadership, is a teleconsultation program aimed at assisting both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients.

“Because COVID-19 cases are increasing again here, Bayanihan e-Konsulta will reopen,” Robredo said in Filipino in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

She also called for medical and non-medical volunteers who are willing to work in a remote setup.

Volunteers were reminded that having access to the internet and owning devices such as smartphones and laptops are important in fulfilling their duties for the program.

“In preparation for this, we will need 50 non-medical volunteers and 40 medical volunteers for different parts of our operations. The number of volunteers needed may still increase in the next few days, depending on the volume of requests,” she said.

Within 20 minutes after posting the announcement, Robredo noted that there were already 1,100 volunteer sign-ups.

“The spirit of volunteerism is alive and well,” she said in a tweet.

In less than 20 minutes, 1,100 volunteers already signed up for the resumption of Bayanihan e-Konsulta. Thank you🙏🙏 The spirit of volunteerism is alive and well🥳

— Leni Robredo (@lenirobredo) July 20, 2022

Robredo, who stepped down from office last June 30, ended the Bayanihan e-Konsulta services under the OVP on May 31, after assisting more than 58,000 patients during the pandemic.

She previously said that the program was initially launched with the intention of filling the gaps in the government’s COVID-19 response, especially when the country was facing a surge in April 2021.

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