Inquirer files
MANILA, Philippines 鈥� Filipinos need not fall in line for hours before the break of dawn just to get minutes-long consultations in public hospitals after the government implemented an appointments system already in place in Western countries.
The Department of Health (DOH) on Friday launched the Patient Appointment System (PAS) in response to a more convenient scheduling of medical checkups in public hospitals.
The PAS is currently being implemented at three DOH-run hospitals in Manila: Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center; San Lazaro Hospital; and Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital.
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Securing appointments through PAS will only take two to three minutes, according to the DOH.
For patients who want to get an appointment through PAS, they need to visit patientappointment.doh.gov.ph.
After agreeing to use the PAS, the patients will choose which hospital they will seek consultation from and the service they need.
They will then choose the desired time and date of their appointment. They will also fill out the needed information and take a screenshot, which they will show to the hospital at their scheduled appointment.
Patients with no internet access can go straight to the hospital and book an appointment through PAS on computers there with the assistance of hospital聽personnel.
During the launching of PAS at Fabella Hospital, Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said PAS is 鈥渧ery important so that the time and money of patients will not be wasted.鈥�
Melody, an expectant mother who was among the first patients to book an appointment at Fabella through PAS, was 鈥渧ery happy鈥� for the 鈥渃hange in system.鈥�
She recalled falling in line as early as 4 a.m. to get a queueing number, only for the hospital staff to tell her later on that she did not make the cutoff and would need to return the next day for another attempt to book an appointment.
Implementing the PAS was the DOH鈥檚 solution to the long-standing problem of queues of patients in government hospitals waiting for their turn to be seen by doctors, according to Herbosa.
He said President Marcos instructed him to 鈥渓et the Filipino people feel real health care.鈥�
The DOH thus patterned the PAS to the current online appointment systems to obtain a passport in the Department of Foreign Affairs and a clearance in the National Bureau of Investigation.
Should the new appointment system result in better consultation among Filipinos, Herbosa said the PAS would be expanded to all 87 DOH-run hospitals in the country. /cb