ABOUT 300 graduating high school and college students of medical, health, and information technology-related tracks and courses from various schools in Negros Occidental attended the 1st Bacolod Healthcare Information Management (HIM) Conference at SMX Convention Center Thursday, August 17.
Participating Schools included Mansilingan Agro-Industrial High School, Bacolod City High School, Handumanan High School, Domingo Lacson National High School, Luis Hervias National High School, Visayan Maritime Academy, Bago City College, Bacolod City College, University of Negros Occidental- Recoletos, STI West Negros University, La Consolacion College-Bacolod, and Riverside College Bacolod.
Themed “Building Pathways for Digital Healthcare Careers,” the two-day event running until today is organized by the Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for Information and Communications Technology (BNEFIT) in collaboration with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and MedStar Philippines HealthCare Information Management Corporation.
The conference aims to gather all local stakeholders to scale-up the potentials of the countryside in attracting HIM jobs, opportunities and investments.
Raymond Ang, director of HIM Association of the Philippines, presented the outlook of HIM industry in the Philippines.
Participating students were also oriented on topics like challenges and opportunities in growing HIM industry in the countryside, careers and job opportunities for graduates, digital careers, and creating a thriving ecosystem for HIM-related investments, jobs and opportunities, among others.
Lawyer Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, executive director of BNEFIT, earlier said that through the activity BNEFIT is eyeing to explore potential synergies in creating innovative platforms for delivering global HIM services.
Batapa-Sigue said the conference also aims to discover the importance of HIM education to create jobs, and investments for countryside development, and create conducive ecosystem for the industry.
“Based on projection, there are 210,000 jobs and US$5 billion in revenue for HIM industry in the Philippines. We hope that 5,000 of these jobs will be in Bacolod City,” she added.
Meanwhile, the second day of the conference will gather local government officials, top level executives from colleges, universities and training institutions, medical, healthcare and IT companies, representatives of national and local agencies, real estate developers, and other private sector stakeholders.
