by Abdel Hadi Malali Mohammad Isa, PHI '10

“Putting health in the hands of the people”, this is what the National Telehealth Center has been campaigning for the past 13 years since being established in 1998. The National Telehealth Center, or NTC, of the University of the Philippines Manila was established to explore the application of telecommunications and computer technologies in the implementation and delivery of healthcare and health-related services by linking health care professionals of UP and the communities, especially the underserved. And truly in the fast paced world of today, where almost everyone is connected through the internet and wireless telecommunications thanks to innovative technologies such as laptops and smart phones, our country’s healthcare system has truly fallen behind.

To bring the healing light of medicine to our nation trapped in darkness is a mission many PHIs share. This is why the Phi Kappa Mu Fraternity supports the NTC’s goals of modernizing our nation’s healthcare system through the implementation of eHealth, or the development of innovative information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the implementation of health services, with the project: Phi LIVE.

PHI Live, the brainchild of PHI International Inc. together with alumni from the Phi Lambda Delta Sorority, is a project that originally geared towards providing public schools and government health facilities with the necessary equipment to enhance the quality of education and health service. The first installment of PHI Live was held last December 2009 when a total of 42 LCD monitors were installed at the multi-disciplinary laboratories at the Paz Mendoza Hall of the UP College of Medicine. Then in January of 2011, the PHI Live project, in coordination with the National Telehealth Center, donated another total of 30 LCD monitors to the Pasay City Health Office to aid in their implementation of the Community Health Information Tracking System (CHITS). Since then, PHI Live has donated LCD monitors to various schools in Metro Manila, also to improve their outdated facilities.

Now in its second year, PHI Live has upgraded into not only providing modern LCD monitors but also modern CPU units to upgrade outdated computer equipment. Last October 3, 2011, with the cooperation of Brod Ryan Julius Angeles Bañez Φ2002 of the National Telehealth Center and the resident Brods and Sisses of the Phi Kappa Mu Fraternity and the Phi Lambda Delta Sorority, the first batch of monitors and CPUs were donated to the different departments of the Philippine General Hospital at a turnover ceremony during the PGH flag ceremony in the presence of the PGH director Brod Jose Castillo Gonzales Φ69.

Aside from the Philippine General Hospital, PHI Live 2 has also expanded to the province with the recent donations of CPUs for the Municipal Health Offices in Romblon. Again with the coordination of Brod Ryan Bañez Φ’02 of the NTC and now with a sister alumnus of the Phi Lambda Delta, Dr. Heidi Exconde, who serves as a Municipal Health Officer in Romblon, the resident brods and sisses turned over 6 CPUs to the mayors of Romblon in a turnover ceremony held last October 21 at the Century Park Hotel Manila during their regional planning meeting. Two CPU units were distributed each to Mayor Festo R. Galeng, Jr  of Cajidiocan, Romblon, to Mayor Dindo Rios of San Fernando, Romblon, and to Mayor Ibarra Manzala of Magduang, Romblon. The three mayors commended the Phi Kappa Mu and the Phi Lambda Delta for their dedication to public service and hoped that many more municipalities would benefit through their activities. The CPUs, they said, would be used in “building a better health system” through the implementation of CHITS in their respective locales.

Perhaps a modest start for the monumental goal of “building a better health system”, but nevertheless we can expect more similar feats as PHI: Live 2 is only getting started as more equipment is still on their way for our healthcare system’s improvement.

Project PHI: Live 2 is currently lead by Brod Mark Willis Lim Malaki (Φ ’08B) with partnership with Sis Maetrix Ocon (Φ ’09) of Phi Lambda Delta.

All for PHI!