SORSOGON, Bicol– When the Universal Health Care (UHC) Law was enacted in 2019, the province of Sorsogon was chosen as one of the pilot sites for implementation in the country. To digitize, interconnect, and consolidate the health records of Sorsogon residents to successfully roll-out UHC in the province, a series of workshops and trainings on Data Governance have been held with local government officials and other key stakeholders.
Action for Economic Reforms (AER), through its Data-Driven Development in the Philippines (PH3D) project, organized the 3rd of five trainings with the local government unit (LGU) of Sorsogon last April 8, 2022. The activity aimed to help the province outline strategic next steps to improve data governance, data privacy, and data management of the UHC’s implementation and enforcement procedures. Other workshop participants included partners from Sorsogon State University and Lingap Para sa Kalusugan ng Sambayanan (LIKAS).
Dr. Edgar Garcia, Sorsogon’s UHC Executive Director, discussed the status of integrated sites and deliverables at the provincial level. He stressed that for faster and better decision-making, and to comply with the requirements of the UHC, “the key is digitalization of processes and data.” Dr. Garcia outlined the following measures already in place to address this challenge: (1) Sorsogon’s partnership with AER and PH3D; (2) the Provincial Government of Sorsogon will provide PHP 139 million for hardware, development and deployment of the Hospital Information System, and User and Network Administration Training; (3) creation of the Sorsogon Provincial Information Communications and Technology (ICT) Division; and (4) DBP Medix on the development of Electronic Medical Record (EMR).
Dr. Eddie Dorotan, Senior Fellow and Member of the Department of Health’s (DOH) National Immunization Technical Advisory Group for COVID-19 Vaccine Public Health, said that “there are so many data in the DOH, and for these data to make sense, data governance is needed.” In his talk, Dr. Dorotan discussed the 3S needed for the use of data in Universal Health Care: safe, smart, and sustainable.
Meanwhile, PH3D Overall Project Coordinator Ms. Victoria Quimbo encouraged the participants to utilize AER’s Policy and Research Institute for Development (PRIDE) platform, a virtual repository of knowledge products featuring online seminars, research papers, policy notes, training modules, and manuals that anyone can easily access for additional information following the workshop.
PH3D helps LGUs deliver their priority projects using data, technology, and community alliances. The implementation of PH3D in Sorsogon is made possible through the funding support of the European Union.
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Action for Economic Reforms (AER) was established in 1996 and is a policy research, advocacy, and action group by publicly-engaged political economists with focus on various sectors from fiscal policy, food and agriculture, industrial policy, governance, interface, and data-driven development.
PH3D, a component of AER’s data-driven development focus and co-funded by the European Union (EU), helps Local Government Units (LGU) deliver their priority projects using data and technology, and community alliances. Using this framework, LGUs will have access to actionable evidence that will empower them to view macro and micro data, prioritize programs, manage resources, enhance capacity, and get support from Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).