UPM NTHC participates in the Asia Pacific Regional Forum on ICT Applications

May 21, 2011 5:06 pm | by Arturo M. Ongkeko Jr. | Posted in News

Bangkok, Thailand – The University of the Philippines Manila National Telehealth Center (UPM NThC) participates in the “Asia Pacific Regional Forum on ICT Applications on May 18-21 in Bangkok, Thailand. Thailand’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MICT) hosted the event.

Sessions of the forum highlights the role of ICT applications across multiple sectors (i.e Strategic Policy and Regulatory, Rural Community, Disaster Risk Reduction and Communications, Creative Economy, Agriculture, Health, Mobile Broadband Applications and the Government).

“ICT services and applications are available in various sectors, whilst some are even in cross-sectors in the ICT era. From users’ perspective, it does not matter which sector the services belong to and it is not a responsibility of any particular person, organization or authority. Instead, it has to be seen as a holistic or collective approach,” says Dr. Eun-Ju Kim, Regional Director of ITU for Asia and the Pacific during the opening ceremonies held at the Conference Room 3 (CR-3) of the United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC).

ITU, ESCAP and the Ministry of ICT Thailand concurrently organize an exhibit as part of the World Telecommunications and Information Society Day (WTISD) celebration in Bangkok. The Exhibition underscores the WTISD theme this year “Better Life in Rural Communities with ICTs”. In the exhibit UPM NThC showcases different projects in eRecords, eLearning for Health and eMedicine (Telemedicine).

ICT Applications in Health (eHealth) is one of the featured sectors during the 7th session. Dr. Alvin Marcelo, former director of UPM NThC discusses in plenary the center’s experience in implementing its Telemedicine services.

“What’s important when implementing telemedicine is the commitment to create a secure and confident network of healthcare professionals, working together and helping each other by exchanging information through mobile phones, to give the best and optimum care to the patient in a particular situation”, says Dr. Marcelo.

Other topics featured during the 7th session were “Software Framework for enhancing the interoperability and reusability of eHealth services”  by Dr. Eun-Ju-Kim, Director of National Information Society Agency (NIA), Republic of Korea; “Innovative and Pragmatic eHealth Solutions at Work” by Mr. Chun Cheng, Program Coordinator of InSTEDD, and “eHealth Development in Viet Nam: Current Status, Needs and Plans 2011 – 2015” by Dr. Luong Chi Thanh, Director of Central Health Information Technology Institute (CHITI), Ministry of Health, Viet Nam.

The forum served as a platform among the ICT implementers in Asia Pacific Region to share, interact and find creative ideas and potential solutions for every participating country to realize Better Life for all and in Rural Communites inter alia with ICTs.

The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE), Australian Government, and the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission of Thailand (NBTC) as well as UN agencies like the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and  Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) support the event.