BACOLOD CITY – The Negros Occidental government is planning to strengthen its One Hospital Command (OHC) system by tapping local government units (LGUs) in all 31 cities and municipalities to boost the province's emergency response service.
As of Monday, the OHC no longer has to cater to a high number of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) but the system, which was established at the height of the pandemic, has brought benefits in terms of patient referrals among the Capitol-run hospitals.
“We will urge all local government units (LGUs) to adopt the One Hospital Command program to further simplify the process of providing our constituents with rescue and medical interventions in times of emergency,” Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said.
Formed as part of the province’s Digitizing Health and Emergency Management initiative, the OHC system serves as the center of communications between referrals from one hospital into another.
It also facilitates medical transport and patient pick-up arrangements, provides health system capacity, data analytics, risk communications, and optimizes the use of critical care services of every hospital in Negros Occidental.
OHC program chief Girlie Pinongan said the goal is that a patient in need of admission can already be assisted at the level of the LGU.
Once LGUs are given access to the system, they will be able to encode patient details in the online referral form.
Once in the system, it would now be easier to determine which hospital could best attend to a particular case. Hospital capacity and the doctors on-duty can also be determined through the system.
“If we see that the emergency room (in a certain hospital) is full, we will not send patients there,” Pinongan said.
She added the system is better for medical workers in hospitals since with the referrals done through the OHC, they can prepare for the arrival of emergency cases. (PNA)
