Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 13) — An official in the government’s pandemic response team has disclosed moves to seek the help of business process outsourcing (BPO) companies to augment contact tracing efforts.
During a televised briefing on Tuesday, contact tracing czar Benjamin Magalong said the national task force against COVID-19 is getting in touch with BPO firms for help in acquiring contact tracers.
“Very critical ngayon ang contact tracing, lalo ngayon na meron tayong Lambda [variant], meron pa tayong Delta…at wala na tayong pondo para sa ating contact tracers,” he said
[Translation: Contact tracing is very critical now especially with the presence of the Lambda and Delta (variants)…and there are no more funds for our contact tracers.]
In May, Magalong said contact tracing was the “weakest link” in the country\s COVID-19 response.
Magalong, who is also Baguio City mayor, said the government was looking for funds to extend contact tracers’ services until December, but he said they should also be “proactive” in the meantime.
“What we’re doing now is getting in touch with the BPO companies… Kahapon, nakipagusap kami [Yesterday, we spoke] with the group representing the BPOs so they can help us… They’re helping us now, they’re helping us to source some of our contact tracers from our BPO companies,” he said.
Magalong said the government is working out that these services would be free of charge and become part of the corporate social responsibility of BPOs.
However, the mayor did not give details of the meetings with the BPO companies or about how many contact tracers are targeted to be hired.
He also did not say when the deployment of these prospective contact tracers would be.
