Category: NEWS & EVENTS

COVID-19 is projected to require a massive inventory of medical supplies. This was the impetus for the UP College of Medicine to spearhead SIBOL (Tagalog for germination), a project which aims to use locally sourced material and technology to produce much needed surgical and medical devices. This is a joint program with UP Diliman and sponsored by Department of Science & Technology-Philippine Council for Health Research & Development (DOSTPCHRD). The S.I.B.O.L. (Surgical Innovation and Biotechnology) Team includes collaborating clinicians from UP Manila and engineers, scientists, and even artists from UP Diliman.

The UP Manila NIH was the first facility to use the GenAmplifyTM, Covid 19 testing kit rRT-PCR developed by Dr. Raul Destura and researchers from the NIH and Philippine Genome Center (PGC). The mass distribution of the kits started on April 20, 2020 according to the Department of Science and Technology which gave P53.2M for the development of this. Its use was approved by the Food and Drug Administration on April 3 after three weeks of field validation that covered 26,000 tests. Other institutions such as the PGC, Bataan General Hospital, Araneta Foundation, Office of the Vice President, and some local governments have availed of the kits, the DOST stated.

Students of UP Visayas may be considered as trail blazers in the creation of the ‘Do It Yourself’ face shields in the country. The initiative started after UPV student Hannah Labrador and her doctor mom introduced the idea to students stranded in the dormitories and boarding houses and supplied them with raw materials. The production started during the third week of March 2020.

Fighting the COVID-19 pandemic has made UPLB colleges and institutes step up to do their part.

One of these is the Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Physics of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS-IMSP), some of whose faculty members are part of  the Committee for Technology and Facility Innovation of the UPLB Task Force Laban ng Bayan Kontra Covid-19.  

The tricycle drivers and laundrywomen have long been a part of the UP Visayas community in Miagao since the campus opened in 1989.The drivers ferry faculty, staff and students around the sprawling campus and the town proper. The laundrywomen service the students staying at the dorms as well as residents living in the staff houses.

In these extraordinary times, speed is of the essence. To further accelerate our LGUs’ CoVID-19 response, CoVcheck developed the Quarantine Buddy (QB).

“Communication is important and necessary. People tend to underestimate the importance of communication because it comes easily to most of us. But difficulties communicating brings about frustration and can even strain relationships,” said Michael Valdez, Speech Pathology Chair at the College of Allied Medical Professions (CAMP) at University of the Philippines (UP) Manila. “The need for communicating is also highlighted as everyone is experiencing constant change during this time. It is crucial to establish an understanding of the situation and the changes it brings about to our daily lives. People with communication difficulties tend to feel more left out and confused in times like this.”

The UP Men’s Basketball Team and the San Beda Red Lions were supposed to play exhibition games on March 14 to 15 2020 in Passi City and Iloilo City. On February 5, 2020, iAmUPHi, in partnership with the UPAA Iloilo Chapter and a local sports organizer were finalizing plans for the games including a dinner for the teams at the Casa Real that was to be hosted by Iloilo Provincial Governor Arthur Defensor, Jr. Everybody was busy preparing for the big event. But fate had a bigger plan.

With just more than a week of preparation, the University of the Philippines Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) has formally opened its doors as a COVID-19 referral hospital on March 30, 2020. The opening jibed with the launch of the UP-PGH COVID-19 Bayanihan Na! Operations Center on the same day. The Center will entertain COVID-19-related inquiries and donations.

PGH Director Gerardo Legaspi stated during the launch that an initial 130 beds were allotted for confirmed COVID-19 patients. With the help of private and government organizations, six wards were redesigned within one week for the needs of the patients. He thanked D.M. Consunji Inc. and Architect Dan Lichauco for retrofitting two wards despite the hospital’s tight deadline.

With Cebu implementing phased plans for re-opening businesses organizations and public institutions, we developed a tool whose approaches augment what we know works for such set-ups.

Covcheck’s CovidCheck is a monitoring tool built to collect health data of the personnel of business organizations and/or public institutions through daily health self-assessments. It aids in identifying risks before employees, staff, and students alike leave their homes.