GIVEN its huge talent pool potential, Bacolod City is capable of achieving even more than the target 5,000 jobs in the healthcare information management (HIM) industry by 2022, a top official of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said.
DICT Undersecretary Monchito Ibrahim, who was the keynote speaker at the 1st Bacolod HIM Conference at SMX Convention Center in the city Friday, August 18, said there are many underemployed and unemployed nurses, and this is actually one opportunity for them to be able to put into practice what they have learned in school.
He said the local stakeholders just have to find the right strategy to develop the sector by leveraging on the available talent.
“Achieving 5,000 HIM-related jobs in the next five years is so easy for Bacolod City,” Ibrahim said, adding that “the challenge is convincing these kids that they are actually the right people to work for this sector.”
Ibrahim pointed out that most of them think that working for the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector may not be exciting for healthcare professionals.
There is a need to make them understand that HIM is not a call center job, but really a healthcare work which uses computers.
“Changing the mindset therefore is the harder part,” he said.
During the conference, Ibrahim led industry stakeholders in expressing their pledge of commitment to support and cooperate with the Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for Information and Communications Technology (BNEFIT) in achieving the target jobs for the city.
He said that HIM is currently the fastest growing sub-sector of the information technology-business process management sector in the country.
The Philippines is now moving towards electronic medical records, Ibrahim said, adding that “we are moving towards digitizing everything and that is opening a lot of opportunities for the local industry workforce.”
To help the local HIM industry grow, the DICT will work mainly for building the right infrastructure, connectivity and broadband access not only in Bacolod City but also in other areas in the province as far as cities of San Carlos and Kabankalan.
There is a need to spread opportunities in all areas, “and what we need there is connectivity,” Ibrahim said.
The DICT is working on a national program to put up this broadband facility all over the country, which has gained boost through the recently signed law providing free internet access in public places, he added.
Speaking at the conference, Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. said the provincial government has been supporting all development initiatives of BNEFIT like improving the courses at the Negros Occidental Language and Information Technology Center to address current industry demands.
Marañon lauded the BNEFIT for gathering the stakeholders in the conference as he expressed continued support for its objectives of exploring potential synergies in creating innovative platform for delivery of global services, creating jobs and investments for countryside development, and establishing conducive inclusive ecosystem for HIM.
“Today, we are at the threshold of a new beginning for our province to expand and conquer another industry – the HIM,” the governor said, adding that “our joint target is for Bacolod and Negros Occidental to successfully expand three areas such as software development, creative industry development, and healthcare information management.”
Themed “Building Pathways for Digital Healthcare Careers,” the two-day event was organized by BNEFIT in collaboration with the DICT and MedStar Philippines HealthCare Information Management Corporation.
It gathered local stakeholders to scale-up the potentials of the countryside in attracting HIM jobs, opportunities and investments.
