Making it Work: A Benchmarking Visit in RHRDC – XI

                In order to live to its mandate of building healthy islands in the MIMAROPA Region, the GB approved the activity of doing the benchmarking visit to the older and more successful Regional Health Research Consortium in the country. Last May 20, 2015 the management Committee of the Consortium visited the Regional Health Research Consortium (RHRDC) XI in Davao City. The said activity was participated in by the Regional Director of DOST MIMAROPA and MHRDC Co-Chairperson, Dr. Ma. Josefina P. Abilay; the Executive Director, Dr. Fe V. Ricon four (4) Committee Chairpersons, namely: Mr. Lester A. Añonuevo, Research and Development Committee; Mr. Marvin P. Plata, Regional Ethics Review Committee; Dr. Diosdado Zulueta, Capacity Building Committee and Ms. Katherine Sanchez-Escalona for the Research Information Dissemination AND Utilization Committee. Ms. Genoveva Viñas, Statistician of DOH MIMAROPA and Ms. Desiree Tarranco, Project Staff of MHRDC likewise joined the visit.

                The team went to visit two institutional members and met with the Chair of Region XI Health Research DC. The two institutions visited were the University of the Immaculate Conception (UIC) and San Pedro College, two award-winning institutions in terms of quality health researches not only in the Region but also in the country. At UIC the group was met by Ms. Ludivina M. Porticos, Director, UIC Science Resource Center. Later, the group met with President of UIC Sr. Maria Marissa R. Viri

                UIC is one of the founding members of RHRDC – XI.UIC’s experience with the consortium appears very positive and effective for the institution. Their health researches usually come from the faculty and students of BS Pharmacy and the medical technology and laboratory sciences. They mentioned that 60% of their faculty are into research, 20% of those into health research and surprisingly about 80% of the 60% are budding researchers. Ms. Porticos, added that young researchers are easier to develop and build.

                To strengthen the researches of the institution, they have their Research and Publication office. Some of the researches they have were also mentioned such as their 2009 Inventory of Health Research, single Dose Oral Toxicity of Tawa-Tawa, some DOH collaborative researches and for private industries (e.g. APEX Mining Co., Inc.). Also, aside from in-house trainings, they send the researchers outside Davao, if possible abroad. They provide Incentives researchers for them to be motivated can be (1) researches get Php 10,000 if they present the research with certificate, (2) another Php 10,000 if published in international journals. Aside from the incentives researchers get, they have the honorarium that is given once the research is completed.

                When asked about academic loads and whether faculty researchers are deloaded or the research activities are counted as overload, Ms. Porticos shared that with 3-5% increase in freshmen enrolment, researches choose to overload. They also do collaboration in  their researches with other disciplinary fields which are either internal (campus-based) or external. The team had a walk-through of their functional laboratories.

                The next institution visited by MHRDC was the San Pedro College (SPC). The school is known for their five-year curriculum in Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), the first in Mindanao. Also, the school offers BS. Medical Technology program and in 2003, they opened BS Pharmacy program.

                Prof. Fatima May Tesoro, Faculty and Practicum Coordinator for BS Pharm talked about their successful attempts in the Gruppo Medica Award for Outstanding Undergraduate thesis. In the year 2011, they were asked to submit one entry and fortunately, it was awarded 5^th place. They submitted again last 2012 and got to the Top 3; 2013, they got the Top award including the in 4^th & 5^th and recently, in 2014, they got the top three places. These students were guided by mentors from the school.

                Ms. Tesoro also mentioned that their researches include that of product discovery and development anthropological characters of medicinal plants found in Davao City as the place has a wide range of indigenous plants. As outcome of their research, the school had developed its botanic garden.

                They also have Research & Publication Office. The funding for their researches is from the institution. They also have multidisciplinary researches on the Davao River. Research utilization includes coming up with a book especially on the characterization of medicinal plants in Davao which is already finished. The school also shared that the strategy used to develop more is to require submission per researches department. They prioritize there research agenda based on their research manual and the NUHRA. They have less than a half of their faculty engaged in research but they also highlighted that they continue to encourage them to engage in research especially now that K-12 has been implemented. Their % of increase in student is about 6-8% per year.

                Ms. Tesoro also explained the process before a research can be funded, such as:

                1. Researchers meet there Dean to talk about concept paper/capsule proposal (2-3 pages);

                2. Once finalized, forwarded to research & Publication Office (RPO);

                3. Defend the concept paper;

                4. Once approved, researchers will be asked to submit full blown proposals to the RPO;

                5. Defend the full proposal;

                6. Approval/disapproval;

                7. Once approved, revision of papers;

8. Review of the Ethics Committtee;

9. Signing of Memorandum of Agreement;

10. ¾ of the fund will be released;

11. Data gathering of the research;

12. Once completed, final defense;

13. Revision of paper;

14. Fill up completion form for submission of completed paper and get the ¼ left from the fund agreed.

To incentivize research, they give are research bonus that is equivalent to one (1) month salary to the proponent if the research is finished on time. A monthly honorarium of ½ of the salary is also awarded to the proponent/s for the duration of the approved study.

                Furthermore, they also do collaborative researches with two other schools or other agencies. The RPO may recommend to a faculty a research partner from other institutions or vice versa. Also, if they could not fund the entire project, they get partner institutions so that they could share resources.

                As to their Call for Proposal, they are open any time of the year. They also base their prioritization with the NUHRA. According to SPC, if the proposal is not funded, they keep on recycling it for prioritization but they do not reject.

On the afternoon of May 20, the MHRDC benchmarking team meet the RHRDC XI Officers, composed of the Chairperson, Dr. Warlito C. Vicente, the Co-chairperson, Dr. Annabelle P. Yumang and the Committee Chairs of RHRDC – XI. The consortium is one of the 4 pioneering consortia in the country, established in 1985. They also talked about their organizational structure.

The RHRDC – XI has the Executive Management Committee or ExeComm and is composed by the Chairperson, Co-chairperson and the Committee Chairpersons that meet once a month. They are the ones that review proposals, initiate for proposal mechanisms, monitoring and validation of PCHRD-funded researches, collaborations and partnerships.

                Their monitoring & validation of on-going projects are done per institution. They assign a focal person who gives update to the ExeComm. For the review of proposals, they assign a paper to the person with an expertise on the field and then once they meet, the assigned person will be asked to discuss the paper so that they would not exert more time reading. Their passion to develop quality researches have been proven true as they do not receive incentives/honorariums for their reviews.

                They also have strategic planning. This planning is held every year to review their action plan and assess the alignment of their researches with the NHURA/RUHRA. An average of at least 3-4 researches are funded through the consortium every year.

                For the utilization of the researchers by the consortium, they organize road shows with tarpaulins. Also, they have research presentations. They also join DOST organized-fair to promote the services the consortium can offer. Also, they are planning to have a newsletter.

                They also shared the consortium’s humble awards such the “Most-up-to-date and quality website” and the RHRDC XI member-institutions bagging major Awards during the PNHRS System anniversary celebrations.

                Dr. Vicente observed that the biggest challenge with MHRDC is the non-contiguous location of the provinces and the member-institutions. Furthermore, Dr. Vicente mentioned that the consortium need manpower exclusively dedicated to the consortium activities/programs. Convincing members to participate more actively can be done by updating them of what is going in the consortium. During meetings, it is a big factor that the representatives know what the consortium is talking about.

                To expand their membership, they actively invite new members through a regular Call for Membership.

MHRDC Holds Basic Ethics Training in Health Research

Last July 1-3, 2015, the MIMAROPA Health Research and Development Consortium (MHRDC) in cooperation with the Regional Office of Department of Health (DOH) MIMAROPA hosted the Basic Ethics Training in Health Research. The40participants of the said training were the member-researcher from the Intuitional Ethics Review Committee (IERC) or who will constituent the IERC of their respective institutions (if not yet existing) with the aim to guide the participating institutions about the Philippine Research Standards and create a plan of how the institution/consortium will be aligned to the standard protocols of the Philippine Health Research Ethics Board (PHREB) in reviewing researches that mainly involves human subjects.

The resource speakers for the training were Dr. Angeles T. Alora, Chair of PHREB subcommittee on information dissemination, training and advocacy (SIDTA) and currently a faculty of University of Santo Tomas (UST) for medicine school and Dr. Rosario O. Santos, also a member of PHREB-SIDTA that is also teaching medicine at University of the Philippines.

Dr. Alora discussed about Introduction to Ethics in Research, Scientific Soundness, Principle of Respect for Person/ Informed Consent, Research Ethics Controls, International Controls, and National Controls needed in ensuring ethical soundness. In addition to the lectures, the Principle of Non-Maleficence, Principle of Beneficence, Principle of Respect for Person/ Informed Consent, Principle of Justice, Institutional Controls: IERC, Revisiting Review and After-Review Procedures, and The Ethical Researcher also pose equally important topics in equipping the researchers were discussed by Dr. Santos.

On the 3^rd day, the 10 member-institutions of MHRDC present presented their plan of action regarding the training in order to achieve the objectives of training. Also, the closing ceremony was conducted by giving the researchers their certificates with closing remarks from Mr. Lester Añonuevo, Chairperson of the Research and Development Committee of MHRDC and Planning Officer III of DOH MIMAROPA. The closing ceremony was further synthesized by Dr. Fe V. Ricon, MHRDC Executive Director and Faculty, Palawan State University for meaningful three-day training in order to finally organize the IERC of the respective institutions. Also, all participants were given a book entitled National Ethical Guidelines for Health Research 2011” and a copy of the PCHRD Annual report.

It’s More Fun in the Philippines: Anchoring Health for a Safer Philippines

by: Desiree D. Tarranco

Last April 16, 2015, the Department of Health MIMAROPA together with the Bureau of Quarantine, Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine Ports Authority and Department of Tourism hosted the Provincial Summit on Health in Tourism Program entitled “Usapang Kalusugan para sa Turismo”. Theparticipants of the activity were hotel, resort and tourist establishment owners/managers, Provincial Health Officers and City Health Officers from the provinces of Occidental and Oriental Mindoro, Romblon and Marinduque together with the RIACEH members/representatives at Lima Park Hotel, Lima Technology Center, Malvar, Batangas.

During the opening program, Hon. Hubert Christopher A. Dolor, Mayor of Puerto Galera welcomed the guests and gave a short message to inspire the participants to help each other in order to make inclusive growth to be felt in the region. After which, Dir. Enrique Tayag, Bureau of Local Health System Development of DOH as the keynote speaker of the event encouraged the participants to follow what they learned in this summit in order to make the Philippines especially MIMAROPA a safer place for tourists.

Also, there were five presentations presented namely the (1) Promotion of Hygiene Sanitation in Every Tourist Destination; (2) Health Security Coordination; (3) Role of Quarantine on Tourism; (4) DOT Accreditation Process and lastly, (5) Occupational Safety for Workers.

The first topic “Promotion of Hygiene Sanitation in Every Tourist Destination” was discussed by Dr. Rommel C. Lizan, Medical Officer IV of the Environmental and Occupational Health (EOH) unit mentioned some important points why DOH is promoting health in tourism. It includes the 8 initial components of the program such as (1) vermin control and disinfection, (2) cleanliness in ports and vessels, (3) installation of health signages, (4) medical clinics in network, (5) training of lifeguards and emergency responders, (6) provision of buoys, lifeguard towers and posts, (7) water testing for bacteriological and mineral/solutes and (8) proper sewerage disposals. These components focus on preventing the occurrence of waterborne diseases, degradation of the environment and saving casualties. He also introduced the 9^th component of the program which is to prevent the entry, spread of new emerging diseases such as MERS-COV, SARS, HIV-AIDS and Ebola which can destroy tourism.

                Furthermore, Dr. Lizan mentioned the DOH commitments for this program such as shouldering of training expenses of the lifeguards and emergency responders and their support for the strict implementation of PD 856 or Code of Sanitation of the Philippines for the protection of the environment including air, water land and sea.

                The topic “Health Security Coordination” was discussed by a Nurse in the Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit (RESU) in the name of Mr. Noel T. Orosco. In his talk, he discussed how important it is to gather enough “correct” data/news if there is an outbreak.  The WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY/HOW are still the very useful tool for coordinating correct information.  The extension numbers of DOH in each provinces were also given to the participants so that they can make appropriate action immediately if there are suspected cases of an outbreak in their respective places.

                Through Dr. Ma. Rosario Vasquez, Epidemiologist of Bureau of Quarantine, their roles in the safety of the coming cargo/tourist in the points of entries in the Philippines that they do not carry diseases were made clear to the participants by the topic “Role of Quarantine on Tourism”. She also included in her presentation that aside from assuring maximum security, they should be able to develop protocols, provide technical reports, coordination and networking in order to deliver information to tourists coming in the country.

The next topic discussed was the implementation of the New National Accommodation Standards and how “DOT accreditation process” was being done for hotels, resorts or tourist establishments. The new standards employ a points-based rating system focused on inventory, availability, condition, and quality of a specific facility or service using the Star Rating System. It was also mentioned that the new standards seek to boost industry competitiveness, especially in preparation for important events such as the APEC this year and the ASEAN Tourism Forum in 2016.

Lastly, the “Occupational Safety for Workers” wasconversedbyMs. Rea Joy Paitan of DOLE. She relayed the constitutional mandate to safeguard the worker’s social and economic well-being as well as his physical safety and health.

The program was concluded by signing the “Panata” Board as a gesture of commitment to be one in enriching tourism by being a responsible hotel/resort owner in order to preserve the lands and seas in MIMAROPA and the closing remarks by Dr. Eduardo C. Janairo, DOH MIMAROPA Regional Director.