Last 16 February 2010, two health centers in Pasay City were visited by officials from the International Development Research Center (IDRC), Canada. IDRC Vice President for Resources Branch, Denys Vermette, and Regional Director for Southeast and East Asia, Richard Fuchs, first visited Malibay Health Center where they were welcomed by Pasay City Health Officer, Dr. Cesar Encinares, some CHO staff, Malibay Physician-in-Charge, Dr. Armand Lee, and National Telehealth Center representatives, Dr. Alex Gavino and Engr. Randy Fernandez. The objective of the short visit was to orient Mr. Vermette on the status of IDRC projects in the Philippines, particularly, in Pasay City. Dr. Lee gave them a tour of the health center before settling down for an informal discussion. Most of the questions by Mr. Vermette leaned towards the social dynamics of health care in Pasay City (health budget for basic services, acceptance of information technology in health, political issues that affect health), as well as the experiences of Pasay during typhoon Ondoy. After the discussion, the delegation went to San Pablo Health Center where another project is being piloted — SMS Reminder System for Pregnant Mothers. They were welcomed by Dr. Louie Domingo, Physician-in-Charge of the health center. Ms. Jinky Ubina, Public Health Midwife, was interviewed by the IDRC delegation and she described their experiences on how SMS was able to increase availment of prenatal checkup services. An issue raised was that not every patient would have a cellphone. Dr. Gavino then mentioned the engagement of barangay officials who can receive the reminders through their cellphone, then be the ones to remind the patient. Mr. Fuchs also inquired about the feasibility of assessing whether the SMS reminder system actually resulted to better clinical outcomes.
Malibay Health Center is one of two pilot health centers where the Community Health Information Tracking System (CHITS) has been working for almost 5 years. The development of CHITS was made possible through a grant from IDRC in 2004. In 2008, Dr. Armand Lee received funding from IDRC to create SMS/MMS enhancements for CHITS. At present, two non-CHITS health centers, San Pablo and Cuyegkeng, are using the SMS reminder system to enhance their prenatal services. Again, this is made possible through the grant of IDRC.
