Standard Chartered Bank donates more PPEs to hospitals
Standard Chartered Bank, the oldest international bank in the country, continues to donate personal protective equipment to hospitals and city health offices in Luzon and Cebu City.
In partnership with non-profit Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), the bank distributed such to hospitals in Manila, Mandaluyong, Paranaque, Quezon City, Makati, Antipolo and Batangas.
SCB Head of Corporate Affairs, Brand and Marketing Mai Sangalang led in the delivery and distribution this week. The bank officers went to San Juan Medical Center (SJMC) and San Martin De Porres Charity Hospital (SMPCH) last Wednesday and PPE donations were received by SJMC Medical Director Dr. Joseph M. Acosta and SMPCH Asst. Medical Director Dra. Araceli Luna.
“We strongly believe that helping the government’s capacity to respond to COVID-19 will save more lives and will reinforce the country’s public health response,” Sangalang said.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Standard Chartered launched a $50M global fund aid to support immediate relief efforts and long-term economic recovery of impacted communities across the bank’s network. The bank was cited last month by Leathwaite, a human capital specialist based in the UK, for leading in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Globe teams up with Bataan LGU to streamline SAP processing
The Bataan local government unit (LGU) has tapped Globe to streamline the processing and approval of its Social Amelioration Program (SAP) for constituents.
Globe via its developer arm Globe Labs and Bataan LGU used Amber, the telco’s SMS blasting tool that allows businesses and organizations to send branded and customizable messages to engage their target audience.
Through the service, information about the SAP was disseminated to constituents safely and effectively. Since reports about the subsidy were circulated via text message, it helped minimize overcrowding in public spaces, thus curtailing and eliminating the spread of COVID-19.
“As they say, modern challenges require modern solutions. Given that our national government mandated most of us to stay in our homes, some LGUs may find it difficult to share information about the SAP cash aid,” shares Globe Chief Commercial Officer Albert de Larrazabal. “This is especially true for provinces who have limited access to social media. Amber allows LGUs to be prepared in responding to their constituents’ needs through connectivity and communication.”
Under the partnership, Bataan authorities received one million incoming SMS credits and 500,000 outgoing credits.
“We were pleased with the results of our partnership with Globe and Amber. Almost 170,000 households in Bataan participated in providing us with the information we needed to allocate and identify the recipients of food packs,” says Joet Garcia, 2nd District Congressman of Bataan. “Instead of requesting people to fill up a form and submit their basic data to a representative, we asked our residents to send their details via text response, making our process accessible and centralized.”
“IS YOUR HOSPITAL SAFE?”
Metro Pacific Hospitals hosts free hospital safety webinar
The Metro Pacific Hospitals COVID Crisis Management Team hosted a free webinar last week, titled “Is Your Hospital Safe: Inpatient and Outpatient Safety in the New Normal.” The goal was to facilitate a comprehensive knowledge sharing session that can help hospitals across the Philippines maximize safety during the pandemic.
More than 500 participants on Zoom and Facebook Live were in attendance participating from across the county. Dr. Janice Caoili, Head of Infection Control in Makati Medical Center, and Mr. Genesis Goldi Golingan, President & CEO of Riverside Medical Center in Bacolod, both delivered thorough presentations about their hospitals’ procedures, protocols, and adjustments to ensure safety, such as among others, patient screening, distancing measures, engineering interventions, ventilation systems, waste management, disinfection, and zoning.
Andres Licaros, President and CEO of Asian Hospital and Medical Center, expounded on these topics and also shared the platforms and business processes Asian Hospital adopted in order to better secure their hospital and their patients.
Dr. Saturnino P. Javier, co-CEO and Medical Director of Makati Medical Center, and serving as moderator of the session said “If you feel safe going to the malls, you should definitely feel safe going to the hospital,” Dr. Javier said, citing “all of these extensive screening and physical distancing protocols in place.”
Dr. Javier also made a brief but useful summary of the speakers’ points.
“Hygiene, distance, barrier,” said Dr. Javier. “These are the cornerstones of what [our speakers] have put forward. But there’s one important element that we all need to remember: compliance. None of these will be meaningful if nobody complies. And I think it’s not only true in the hospital setting; it’s also true for the community.”
Metro Pacific Hospitals Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan opened the webinar with his welcome remarks. He thanked the frontliners in attendance and emphasized that the event is the latest in a series of continuing measures his companies have taken to help the country deal with the virus.
“We have reached out to the Interagency Task Force to suggest to them how we as a group–not only the hospitals group, but the whole group–can help in the process of mitigating this second wave,” said Pangilinan.
Pru Life UK earmarks P5M COVID-19 relief fund to PGH Medical Foundation Inc.
Pru Life UK has donated Php 5 million to the Philippine General Hospital Medical Foundation Inc. (PGHMFI) as part of the Prudential COVID-19 relief fund, which provides financial support for Prudential’s communities and the volunteering efforts of its people in Asia, the US, and Africa.
This donation will support the University of the Philippines (UP)-PGH Bayanihan Na COVID-19 project to provide quality medical-grade equipment and supplies forPGH and its healthcare workers who risk their lives to help battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.
PGH currently serves as one of the primary COVID-19 referral hospitals in the Philippines.
Being the biggest modern government tertiary hospital in the country and the only national referral center for tertiary care, PGH has a healthcare force of 4,000 staff servicing approximately 600,000 patients, mostly indigent Filipinos, annually.
Medical equipment such as Zoll Cardiac Defibrillators, Terumo Infusion Pumps and Terumo Syringe Pumpswill also be deployed to COVID-19 patientswho are in need of cardiac and respiratory care.
“We are pleased to play a part in helping sustain the operations of the PGH and ensure the safety of its healthcare workers and patients amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Pru Life UK is committed to workingtogether with the government and the private sectors to fight against this global pandemic,” sharesPru Life UK President and CEO Antonio “Jumbing” De Rosas.
“We are beyond thankful to Pru Life UK for helping save thousands of patients and protecting hundreds of healthcare workers of PGH. The purchase of hospital equipment and supplies supported by this donation would significantly strengthen our force to fight against COVID-19,” says PGHMFI Chairman and President Dr. Telesforo Gana, Jr.
With a total budget of $2.5 million, the fund has been distributed among the Prudential’s markets around the world to support charitable and community projects tackling the immediate impact of the pandemic and its social and economic consequences.
From left to right: Dr. Maria Teresa JulietaBenedicto, UP-PGH Deputy Director for Administration, Dr. Gerardo Legaspi, UP-PGH Director, Dr. Ma. Margarita Lat-Luna, UP-PGH Deputy Director for Fiscal Services.
