MANILA, Philippines - With the new year (and new decade), Smart vows to continue what it started and accomplished in 2010 in terms of lending its technology to benefit the country’s health sector.
Smart’s initiatives in the field of health care have bridged distances for amputees, enabled those in far-flung communities to consult specialists based in the city, and allowed rural health workers to access and make patient data available to health authorities without leaving their desks.
With the help of its partners, Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) provided connectivity, deploying and implementing wireless applications and systems designed to improve the quality and reach of public health care through its Kabalikat sa Kalusugan program.
Patient Profiling
Smart, in partnership with the Physicians for Peace (PfP)-Philippines, has deployed Amputee Screening via CEllphone NeTworking (ASCENT), a mobile and web application that allows PfP to provide real-time evaluation and advice on prosthesis use for amputees in remote communities.
Trained health workers used ASCENT to interview and record data from amputees during medical missions conducted in Tondo, Pampanga, and Romblon this year. The data, which includes photos of the amputee, were sent via Smart mobile Internet to a web site that can be accessed by volunteer doctors from PfP-Philippines.
The process enables remote screening, minimizing the need for those with mobility problems like amputees, to visit health centers before they can be fitted with prosthetics.
At the same time, doctors from PfP-Philippines can minimize on-site visits to assess amputees’ readiness for prosthesis, resulting in savings in time and money for both the doctors and the amputees. The doctors can immediately provide feedback to the health worker’s cell phone, sending instructions on the proper methods for wound care and rehabilitation to facilitate prosthesis fitting and functional recovery.
PfP-Philippines is then able to maximize medical missions to rural areas, since the doctors already have a clear profile of the amputees and their needs.
More than patient profiling, the system will allow for a national registry of the disabled.
Teleconsultation
Smart is also supporting the Mobile Surgery Services Project of the Mindanao Consortium of Surgeons and the provincial government of Misamis Oriental.
To date, the project has provided provincial hospitals in the towns of Gingoog, Talisayan, Balingasag, and Manticao with one-year free Internet access which the resident doctors use to consult specialists online, via a webcam and a free Windows-based video chat and video conferencing application called ooVoo.
Patients from these towns no longer have to travel to consult specialists based in Cagayan de Oro City, minimizing travel and expenses on both ends. Doctors participating in the Mobile Surgery Services project also get a more accurate profile of their patients, allowing them to better prepare for medical missions to these areas.
Paperless Patient-Handling
In four rural health centers in Tarlac, patient-handling is now paperless. Personal and medical data is directly keyed into the clinic database using netbooks and Pcs, thanks to Wireless Access for Health (WAH).
Launched last June, WAH is a multi-sectoral, public-private partnership that involves equipping rural health clinics with wireless broadband connectivity. This supports the computerization of patients’ medical records using an information system for barangay health centers and the transmission of vital information to health authorities.
Initial beneficiaries include patients and health workers in the rural clinics of the towns of Gerona, Moncada, Paniqui, and Victoria where the WAH project conducted its pilot phase.
WAH facilitates the generation of monthly and quarterly reports submitted to the provincial health office. The reports, which conform to the requirements of the DOH Field Health Service Information System (FHSIS), are now sent via e-mail instead of via messenger.
Project partners include US wireless technology leader Qualcomm, which provided funding and management with the assistance of RTI International and the US Agency for International Development, the National Telehealth Center of the University of the Philippines, Tarlac State University, Department of Health, and the Tarlac provincial government through its provincial health, office.
Smart gives technical assistance and carries the data on its 3G network, providing free Internet connectivity for one year.
Philhealth Support
Smart is also helping the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) enhance its collection efficiency via the Philhealth Remittance-by-Air service.
The service, which is exclusive to Smart subscribers, allows PhilHealth members to pay their monthly contributions via SMS. They just text PHIC (space) Philhealth member ID number (e.g. PHIC 190512345678) to 7442. They then receive a message, which contains their PhilHealth member ID and full name. If they confirm these details by texting PHIC (space) YES to 7442, an amount of P115 is deducted from their cell phone load every month.
Smart also supported Philhealth Sabado, a one-day nationwide effort for membership recruitment by providing wireless broadband connectivity to 200 mobile points of enrollment nationwide. To date, the enrollment campaign has resulted in hundreds of thousands of members enrolled or renewed.
Smart has just signed a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Health, through the Center of Health Development Western Visayas (DOH-CHD6), to collaborate on the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for health care services in Region 6. This includes pioneering a health information exchange and referral system.