ILOILO – This province won second place (provincial level) as Best in COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) Pandemic Response in the 2021 Digital Governance Awards of the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
The virtual awarding ceremony on Oct. 29 was attended by Information and Communication Technology Management Office chief Salvacion Sibonga and Dr. Maria Socorro Colmenares-Quiñon, head of the Provincial Health Office.
The province’s entry was the ProCID Cares or Provincial Civil Defense Case Referral System.
ProCID Cares, a brainchild of Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr., enhances the referral system among district hospitals.
According to Atty. Suzette Mamon, acting provincial administrator, ProCID Cares began in early 2021. A command center navigates or refers patients to hospitals that still have vacant rooms.
“The referral system was established purposely because of the high hospital utilization care naton. Gina-address ‘na sia nga gap,” Mamon said.
“Instead nga mag-deretso kag magpila sa tertiary hospitals, gina-determine sang ProCID Cares kon diin may available (beds) so that pag-abot sang pasyente sa hospital naka-in place na sia. Meaning indi bala magsala or libot ang pasyente kon diin may available nga hospital,” she added.
In 2020, Iloilo province was hailed the winner of the provincial category in the said search with its entry “RIsC-TrAp” or Reverse Isolation and Contact Tracing Application (A COVID containment and risk reduction measure in facing the new normal).
The “RIsC-TrAp” was launched to make local government units (LGUs) more effective and efficient in conducting reverse isolation and contact tracing.
DGA is an annual search for best practices in local government units in utilizing information and communications technology (ICT) to effectively and efficiently deliver its public services directly to its constituents and to its business stakeholders.
DGA is organized by the ICT Industry Development Bureau (IIDB) of the DICT, in partnership with the DILG and the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines.
DGA shares the vision of establishing indices for local government units across the country in harnessing the potentials of ICT towards raising the bar in delivering public service./PN