DIE/OR COVID-19 Initiatives

With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to affect the country, the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research has been taking an active role in aiding the government’s efforts to optimize healthcare-related solutions by partnering with institutions all over the Philippines.

One of its flagship efforts is the Integrated Emergency Healthcare System, or ieHEALS, a total systems design project with the Philippine General Hospital. ieHEALS is an integrated personnel, material, and information systems for managing critical hospital operations in an emergency setting, such as the COVID-19 crisis. The system was developed by DIE/OR faculty and student volunteers.

ieHEALS was initially deployed at PGH on March 30, and has since been continuously collaborating with the hospital to maximize the success that the system has thus far yielded. Because of this, it has also been deployed at the Cagayan Valley Medical Center on April 8.

Another DIE/OR-led effort is the COVID-19 Knowledge Hub, a community-based information repository on idea generation and benchmarking of best practices from an Industrial Engineering perspective. Gathered information from the Knowledge Hub has been used to develop solutions forwarded by the Department to its other partner agencies, and is continually being updated as progress on addressing the pandemic is made.

DIE/OR faculty have also been working with other UP System units, the Department of Science and Technology and the COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases on other aspects of managing the country’s response to the pandemic. 

The Department would like to extend its invitation to our IE alumni and students who would like to volunteer and take part in our collective efforts to aid the country through these trying times. We are also open to suggestions and ideas from the community. For more information, please contact Mr. Erickson Llaguno through elllaguno@up.edu.ph.