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Caring for pets amid COVID-19

PHOTO COURTESY OF VETS IN PRACTICE

Like humans, animals need care and medical assistance, COVID or no COVID. Vets in Practice Animal Hospital (VIP) has a hotline that makes it easier for clients to schedule appointments for their pets. Called Central Hub, it provides access to VIP’s branches in Taguig, Mandaluyong, Quezon City, Alabang, Pasay, and Pasig.

The hotline is a response to the deluge of calls the animal hospital received during the lockdowns. Clients have their requests scheduled, depending on the available slots per branch. While inquiries can also be coursed through the hospital’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, all appointments are directed to Central Hub.

The strictly-by-appointment rule does not apply to emergencies. Clients are advised to seek immediate care for their pets in emergency situations. 

VIP also offers online consultations via Facebook Messenger. “This was especially effective during the stricter quarantine periods,” said Jerome Cruz, VIP senior operations manager, who added there was an “overwhelming” number of requests for consultations, treatment, grooming, and emergency procedures when the hospital reopened two weeks after the latest enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was imposed. Operations are picking up as clients have adapted to the new normal. A monthly disinfecting schedule is carried out in all six locations, although each can still only cater to a limited number daily.

As a matter of safety for both clients and staff, house calls have been temporarily discontinued.

Other new normal adjustments include providing shuttles for the staff and working with suppliers in getting essential products stocked on shelves. 

Animal industry stakeholders fearing a bottleneck in veterinary medicine are asking government agencies to continue to allow the Bureau of Animal Industry to register veterinary medicine and products. The Food and Drug Administration has its hands full because of the pandemic.

“We’ve had to persevere and continue our operations because we are cognizant of the high demand for our products and services among pet owners,” said Mr. Cruz. — Patricia B. Mirasol

AC Health, 917Ventures urge doctors nationwide to embrace telehealth

The pandemic has fully disrupted healthcare in the Philippines. Thousands nationwide are unable to visit medical centers given the risks, the social distancing measures in place, and even the lack of transportation available. As such, Ayala Healthcare Holdings, Inc. (AC Health), the healthcare arm of the Ayala Group, and 917Ventures, a wholly-owned corporate incubator of Globe, are urging doctors nationwide to embrace telehealth to address the primary healthcare needs of patients.

Many doctors are also struggling to find the chance to talk to patients face-to-face. Thus, Paolo Borromeo, AC Health President, and CEO, said it is time for medical practitioners to explore telehealth services like HealthNow to reach their patients faster, easier, and in a more convenient and safe manner.

“Our goal is to give new opportunities for doctors all over the country, particularly those outside Metro Manila, to meet their patients. With HealthNow, everything is done digitally and the entire process is very simple and easy to use. Ultimately, we believe that health technology is a key enabler to our network and that through this platform, we can provide care whenever or wherever our patients need us,” said Borromeo.

HealthNow, powered by AC Health’s Vigos Health and Globe’s 917Ventures, is a primary care platform that offers telemedicine consultations, online medicine ordering and delivery, and clinic and diagnostic testing booking. It allows doctors to practice their profession anytime and anywhere in order to attend to more patients and support continuity of care while managing their time and schedule.

Vince Yamat, 917Ventures Managing Partner, said: “We are here to help solve problems beyond connectivity in the areas of education, health, e-commerce, and other sectors. That is why we build, operate, and scale new businesses like HealthNow. We believe in the importance of telehealth today more than ever. As patient demand shifts to digital health, we encourage our medical community to join HealthNow so that together we can continue to serve the healthcare needs of the Filipino people.”

The platform provides an opportunity for doctors to reach and serve a wider patient base. Beyond providing access to easy teleconsultation solutions and securing medical records, HealthNow also allows doctors to seamlessly monitor and assist in the journey of their patients.

By joining HealthNow, doctors have free use of an Electronic Medical Record platform which includes medical charting, e-prescription, and doctor and diagnostic referrals. They can also accept virtual consultations and in-person appointments through a schedule management tool.

HealthNow connects a patient to a licensed physician for consultation through the use of video technology. Patients can select their preferred doctors. Once appointment is confirmed, the licensed physician may collect clinical history, create a treatment plan, render medical advice, recommend the conduct of diagnostic procedures and prescribe medication, provide follow-up care, and/or refer the patient to another physician, clinic, or hospital. This is similar to the procedure during a regular clinic visit.

HealthNow also provides a platform that allows users to order medicines from licensed pharmacies and schedule an appointment for outpatient services through partner clinics and laboratories.

HealthNow app is available in Google Play for Android and the App Store for iOS. For interested doctors, they may apply at https://provider.healthnow.ph/.

PH startups shine in regional pitch competition

Update: Edukasyon.ph won the grand prize at Ignite 2020 Cyber’s Wildfire pitch competition. The Gen Z platform helps students make better-informed decisions in their education, career, and life choices. Its website has half a million registered users and attracts 10 million unique visitors annually.

“We are incredibly grateful for this,” said founder and CEO Henry Motte-Muñoz. “My best advice to startups is to never give up. Find your true north. Don’t think of a no as a full setback. Take it as an opportunity to improve.”

Edukasyon.ph beat other category finalists: MyGolana (health tech); NextPay (fintech); 1Export (e-commerce); and Peak (workplace tech). All, save for Peak, are Philippine-based.

The judges for the grand pitch competition are James Tan, general partner of Quest Ventures; Ee Ling Lim, Singapore lead of 500 Startups; Vijay Tirathrai, managing director of Techstar; Tommy Mazenc, investment manager of True Corporate VC; and Hanno Stegmann, DV partner & director of BCG Digital Ventures.

Four Philippine startups won in their respective categories in a pitch competition open to entries from the ASEAN and East Asia.

MyGolana, Edukasyon.ph, NextPay, and 1Export won in the health tech, education tech, finance tech, and e-commerce categories, respectively, of the Wildfire pitch session of Ignite 2020, an international innovation conference.

MyGolana aims to reduce the barriers of access to mental wellness and has a pending patent on its predictive analysis technology for those seeking professional counseling.

It bested Instalimb, Inc. (Philippines), a developer of low-cost 3D printed prosthetics; Hacarus (Japan), an artificial intelligence (AI) solution for manufacturing and medical industries; uHoo (Hong Kong), an app that measures air quality; MedHyve (Philippines), an AI-powered procurement platform for medical institutions; and Genovior Biotech (Taiwan), a manufacturer of biological injectibles.

Edukasyon.ph, a Gen Z platform that helps students make better-informed decisions in their education, career, and life choices, has a website with half a million registered users and attracts 10 million unique visitors annually. It recently closed the second tranche of its Series A financing round with Alternate Ventures, French Partners, Lorinet Foundation, KSR Ventures, Mustard Seed, and others.

Founder and CEO Henry Motte-Muñoz shared that Filipino students and their parents already know the value of education. “They just don’t know where and how to study and how to afford it,” he said. “We help them with that.”

The platform beat Edulab (Japan), an e-testing and exam operation subcontractor; LearnTalk (Philippines), an online platform for learning English; Akadasia (Singapore), a suite of content creation tools for educators; Lasluz (Vietnam), a tutoring service; Proctur (India), a learning management solution; and Cakap (Indonesia), an online platform for learning Bahasa.

NextPay is a digital banking suite offering solutions for the collection of customer payments and invoices, real-time analyses of income, and payment disbursement to employees, bills, and suppliers. The platform was created for the financially-underserved micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) market, which comprises 99.52% of businesses in the country.

“The Philippines, as you all know, is a cash-based economy. Most businesses actually still have to go to banks to manually deal with cash and checks… because most of the financial services today are for larger companies who can afford them,” said Don Pansacola, co-founder and chief executive officer of NextPay, during his pitch.

NextPay bested Long Term Industrial Development (Japan), an online cooperative system for farmers that provides online financing, trading network, and product transportation options; Trustdock (Japan), an e-KYC (know-your-customer or know-your-client) platform that verifies the identity of customers through ID authentication and facial and voice recognition; Crowd Realty (Japan), an equity crowdfunding marketplace which opens up investment opportunities in real estate by matching project planners and investors; Dealogikal (Philippines), an online supply chain commodity marketplace where different suppliers can compete for a potential client’s order; Platinum Analytics and Technologies (Singapore), a foreign exchange, gold, and cross-assets solutions platforms that that provides tools for risk mitigation, business optimization and integration, and other services; and Global Mobility Service (Japan), an online service that provides more accessible loans in purchasing vehicles for livelihood.

1Export is an end-to-end platform for cross-border trade and fulfillment services that helps micro, small, and medium businesses (MSMEs) by processing their exporting documents, converting their product labels to market-ready standards, fulfilling online orders, and providing them leads through an immigrant network.

“Out of the 1.6 million small and medium businesses in the Philippines, less than 1% are actually exporting, missing the opportunity to sell to a large Filipino diaspora of 8.6 million immigrants around the globe,” said Melissa Nava, the company’s founder and chief executive officer, during the pitch.

1Export raked in $700,000 in revenue in two years with no formal funding, with four times growth in monthly revenues since August 2019 year on year.

Other startups in the e-commerce category were: Qontak (Indonesia), a social CRM technology firm that provides sales and customer service solutions; Xpand (Japan), a company that designs contactless spatial links that blend with the landscape; Lingble (Singapore), a full-service, cross-border e-commerce solution; Last Mile Inc. (Philippines), a shared logistics service innovation company; EAMR (Singapore), a smart marketplace that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to find sellers willing to sell a product within a buyer’s budget; and Otospector (Indonesia), a used car certification platform.

The category winners will compete against each other for a chance to win $5,000 on October 22. — Patricia B. Mirasol and Mariel Alison L. Aguinaldo

BusinessWorld Insights: Internet, Technology and Education: Connecting Schools and Students in the New Normal

What lasting changes can we expect in the education sector and everyone involved as learning through the use of the internet becomes the norm?

Join the third and final session of BusinessWorld Insights on Connectivity with the topic, “Internet, Technology and Education: Connecting Schools and Students in the New Normal”, with speakers PLM President Emmanuel Leyco, IBM Philippines President and Country General Manager Aileen Judan-Jiao, PLDT Enterprise First Vice-President and Enterprise Revenue Group Head Victor Tria, and Tata Consultancy Service TCS iON Sales Director Shashwat Rai; and moderator BusinessWorld Research Head Leo Uy.

BusinessWorld Insights: The Connected Path: A Guide to Digital Transformation of Government and Businesses

Catch the second part of BUSINESSWORLD INSIGHTS: An Online Forum Series on Connectivity with the theme, “The Connected Path: A Guide to Digital Transformation of Government and Businesses”, with speakers AMTI EVP for Technology, Sales and Marketing Digital Transformation Executive Sponsor Bong Paloma; GCash Chief Commercial Officer for Transfers Frederic Levy; PayMaya Philippines Chief Operating Officer Paolo Azzola; and Tata Consultancy Services, Inc. Country Head Shiju Varghese, moderated by Arjay Balinbin, BusinessWorld’s senior reporter.

#BUSINESSWORLDINSIGHTS Connectivity Series is made possible by Tata Consultancy Services, Globe, AMTI, Dell Technologies, PLDT, Smart The Philippine STAR, and Olern; with the support of the Philippine Chamber of Telecommunications Operators, Management Association of the Philippines, Bank Marketing Association of the Philippines, British Chamber of Commerce Philippines, Financial Executives of the Philippines, Philippine Association of National Advertisers, and Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

BusinessWorld Insights: A Connected Nation: State of Internet Connectivity in the Philippines

Watch #BUSINESSWORLDINSIGHTS: An Online Forum Series on Connectivity with the theme, “A Connected Nation: State of Internet Connectivity in the Philippines,” with panelists Senator Grace Poe, DICT Deputy Spokesperson Atty. Adrian Echaus, Globe Telecom Chief Technology and Information Officer Gil Genio, and PLDT-Smart SVP for Network Planning and Engineering Mario Tamayo, moderated by BusinessWorld Editor-in-Chief Wilfredo G. Reyes.

BusinessWorld Insights: Don’t Let Diabetes Break Your Heart

Learn how to protect yourselves against diabetes in BusinessWorld Insights with the theme, “Don’t Let Diabetes Break Your Heart this World Heart Day” with Dr. Gilbert C. Vilela, vice-president of the Philippine Heart Association; Dr. Michael Villa, vice-president of the Philippine Society of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism; and Cihan Serdar Kizilcik, vice-president and general manager of Novo Nordisk Philippines.

BusinessWorld Insights: Talk About Cancer, #BCWeCan

It’s no secret that breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer affecting women worldwide. In spite of this, there is still a lot of misinformation about breast cancer.

Watch BusinessWorld Insights: “Talk About Cancer, #BCWeCan” and hear inspiring breast cancer patients’ journey with Dr. Meredith Garcia-Trinidad, Dr. Gia Sison, Jaymee Joaquin and Marlo Mortel.

BusinessWorld Insights: “Talk About Cancer, #BCWeCan” is presented by Hope fromWithin with the support of e-learning platform, Olern.

BusinessWorld Insights: Empowering Women in the Fight Against Cancer

According to the World Health Organization, cancer is the second leading cause of death globally. Despite this, cancer is curable especially when detected early.

Watch BusinessWorld Insights: “Empowering Women in the Fight Against Cancer”, and hear straight from world-class experts the latest treatments for women’s cancer with Mount Elizabeth Hospital Singapore’s Dr. Lisa Wong, senior consultant, gynaecologist and laparoscopic surgeon, and Dr. Tan Yah Yuen, senior consultant and breast surgeon; and Parkway Cancer Centre’s Dr. Wong Chiung Ing, senior consultant, Medical Oncology.

BusinessWorld Insights is presented by Parkway Cancer Centre and Mt. Elizabeth Hospital with the support of Can Hope Manila; Bank Marketing Association of the Philippines; British Chamber of Commerce Philippines; Management Association of the Philippines; Philippine Foundation for Breast Care, Inc.; Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines; The Philippine STAR; and E-learning platform partner Olern

BusinessWorld Insights: Creating Digital Ecosystems to Jumpstart Local Economies

Watch the final session of BusinessWorld Insights: A Three-part Online Forum Series presented by PayMaya and the USAID E-PESO Project, as experts and LGU leaders discuss the theme, “Creating Digital Ecosystems to Jumpstart Local Economies”.

This online event is supported by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP), the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), and the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP).

Cash remittances drop anew in Aug.

The central bank expects cash remittances to fall by 2% this year amid the pandemic crisis. Customers receive money from families working abroad at a money remittance center in Makati City, Sept. 19, 2018. — REUTERS/ELOISA LOPEZ/FILE PHOTO

By Luz Wendy T. Noble, Reporter

CASH REMITTANCES sent by Filipino workers abroad declined in August after two straight months of recovery, as inflows from the Middle East and Japan fell amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Money sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) through banks stood at $2.483 billion in August, 4.1% lower year on year, according to data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Thursday.

“By country source, the decline in remittances in August 2020 compared to the level in the same month last year was noted from Saudi Arabia, Japan and the United Arab Emirates,” the BSP said.

However, this was partly offset by an “observed remittance growth” from the United States, Singapore, and Malaysia.

For the first eight months of 2020, remittance inflows dropped 2.6% to $19.285 billion from the $19.808 billion during the same period a year ago.

The BSP attributed the lower inflows to the 1.9% decline in cash sent by land-based workers to $15.183 billion, and the 5.3% drop in remittances by sea-based workers to $3.101 billion.

The top source of remittances during the eight-month period is the United States, where 40.2% of the inflows were sourced. It was followed by Singapore, the United Kingdom, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Qatar. All together, remittances from these countries accounted for 78.9% of the total.

Meanwhile, personal remittances, which include inflows in kind, stood at $2.756 billion in August, down by 4.2% from the $2.875 billion logged a year ago.

Year to date, inflows declined 4.2% to $21.414 billion from the $21.995 billion recorded in the first eight months of 2019.

Cash remittances have posted year-on-year growth in June and July, fueling hopes that the worst is over for remittances that support the country’s consumption-driven economy. In May, remittances plunged 19.2%, reflecting the impact of widespread lockdowns around the world.

“The loss of remittance support to household consumption will likely be felt well into 2021, weighing on growth rebound prospects,” ING Bank N.V. Manila Senior Economist Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa said in a note to reporters.

The August remittance figures reflect the impact of the continued repatriation of OFWs amid the crisis, said Asian Institute of Management Economist John Paolo R. Rivera.

“Although the Philippines has also been deploying OFWs abroad in the midst of the pandemic, the returning OFWs are still greater than deployed OFWs,” Mr. Rivera said in an e-mail.

More than 213,000 OFWs have been repatriated as of Oct. 11, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs. The numbers are expected to reach 300,000 by December.

The International Monetary Fund had earlier warned that migrant workers may not be able to sustain giving support to families back home through their savings if the recession deepens in host countries.

The latest data also showed OFWs committing to seasonal expenses back home in the previous months, said UnionBank of the Philippines, Inc. Chief Economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion.

“It [August inflows] does confirm that the June-July recovery combo may be because of the household requirements for schooling, such as tuition fees, tech upgrade, etc.,” Mr. Asuncion said in an e-mail.

Mr. Asuncion said he expects remittances in the next few months to remain soft, with an “inflows bonanza” by December due to the holidays.

“The trend is becoming unusually unpredictable. Christmas is coming so we expect a surge in remittances in the coming months, by virtue of altruism as motivation for remittances,” Mr. Rivera said.

The BSP expects cash remittances to fall by 2% this year amid the pandemic crisis.

Overseas Filipinos’ cash remittances (Aug. 2020)

Overseas Filipinos’ cash remittances (Aug. 2020)

CASH REMITTANCES sent by Filipino workers abroad declined in August after two straight months of recovery, as inflows from the Middle East and Japan fell amid the coronavirus pandemic. Read the full story.

Overseas Filipinos’ cash remittances (Aug. 2020)

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