City’s readies ‘Bantay Covid’ platform for home quarantined cases

Mayor Benjamin Magalong said the city is preparing its telemedicine digital platform, ‘Bantay Covid’, that will be used to serve patients in the Summer Capital who are under home quarantine due to the coronavirus-2019 disease.

In a media forum, Jan. 11, he said training were conducted late last year for those tasked to handle the application patterned after an ongoing program of Quezon City where volunteer doctors, thru digital technology, communicate  with home quarantined  individuals.

The Mayor said the free digital program was modified to fit the needs of Baguio’s residents and spearheaded by the Health Services Office in collaboration with the City Mayor’s Office’s Management Information and Technology Division and the Baguio-Benguet Medical Society.

“What’s nice about this is that many doctors have already volunteered for the program and more are willing to join as part of their community social responsibility.  This is a perfect example of ‘volunteerism’ and the ‘bayanihan spirit’ at work,” he said.

The Mayor said the system will allow those who are under home quarantine to interact with doctors and feel the concern of the local government and will also act as a monitoring device that will check on their progress and gathering of appropriate data.

He said since the city lacks adequate isolation and quarantine facilities to handle the expected surge in cases due to the Omicron variant, home quarantine is being maximized for those with asymptomatic,  mild or moderate cases. – Gaby B. Keith