CEBU: The Department of Health (DOH) has strengthened its #711 call center for easier and faster referral of patients needing immediate health care in Central Visayas, a health official said Tuesday during the Bagong Pilipinas forum. Dr. Jaime Bernadas, DOH-7 regional director, said institutionalizing #711 gives patients across the region a 24/7 call center that could speed up the connection between them and the hospitals or health care units. 'You can dial #711 and a call center operator will answer. The call center is connected to the One Command Health Center housed at the DOH regional office and to the municipal, provincial, district, level 2 and 3 hospitals, and to the APEX hospital, the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center,' he said. Bernadas said the system was established during the Covid-19 pandemic but it has become part of the larger system of patient navigation even after the health emergency after they saw its advantage. He said patients or any of their family members can call the hotline to interact with an operator who could help them navigate which hospital they could go to. 'The pandemic gave us a lesson. Patients faced difficulties in referring to health centers and travel from their house to the hospital as well as in looking for a hospital that has a ready bed for the patient,' he said in Cebuano. Rural health units, all public hospitals, and even private medical institutions also call #711 for patient referral. Although the center covers the Central Visayas region, Bernadas said, hospitals from Regions 6, 8, Caraga, and Zamboanga Peninsula also call the hotline for referral of their patients to some hospitals here. Source: Philippines News Agency