P-Noy meets ‘RxBox’ at Expo Science 2011

July 27, 2011 7:45 pm | by Aliyah Lou Evangelista | Posted in News

P-Noy witnesses how technology could defy the limitations of time and space in meeting the demands of rural health care.

Pasay City, Philippines — President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III has seen “RxBox” as it was showcased at the Expo Science 2011 at the SMX Convention Center in Mall of Asia today.

With the theme “Nasa Syensya ang Pag-asa” (Science is the Hope), the 2011 National Science and Technology Week (NSTW) highlights the Filipino ingenuity in the field of Science and Technology. The event brings forth public awareness on latest innovations in the local science community through fairs, exhibits, book launch, conferences, and quiz bees.

The Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST) High Impact Technologies, Innovations, and Services or HITS enjoy the limelight as the President himself, roams in the exhibit. The “RxBox” gains the president’s attention as Dr. Luis Sison of U.P. Diliman and Dr. Pura Angela Wee of the National Telehealth Center demonstrate how the homegrown RxBox works to the President.

The “RxBox” is a portable innovation funded by the DOST’s Philippine Council on Health Research and Development (PCHRD) and developed by researchers at the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute, and the U.P. National Institute of Physics from the University of the Philippines in Diliman, and the National Telehealtg Center. It contains medical devices for taking a patient’s electrocardiogram or ECG, heart rate, blood, pulse rate and blood oxygenation.

“RxBox is designed for doctorless areas and I think, the teleconsultation feature is its most catchy feature,”  says Dr. Sison.

Through RxBox’s capability for video consultation, clinical experts can inspect patients and can even assist rural doctors how to manage or treat their patients. Furthermore, audio signals from a patient’s heart, lungs, and the abdomen could also be transmitted to help experts diagnose the status of the patient from the health unit. This allows clinical experts from the Philippine General Hospital’s “telecenters” help rural doctors in handling serious medical cases in their health units.

RxBox is part of the proposed P30 million National Telehealth Service Program (NTSP) of the U.P. Manila National Telehealth Center and the Department of Health. The program  aims to use information communication technology to deliver health care in rural and underserved areas is one of the government’s efforts in improving health care for the Filipino people.

The U.P. Manila National Telehealth Center works with the Department of Health, government and non government units in answering shortage of doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals in remote rural areas through information communication technologies.

Along with “RxBox”, innovations such as the Mosquito Ovicidal-Larvicidal Trap, brown rice, baby foods, water filter, automatic weather stations, mass transit system, PC tablet, PCOS machine, gantry crane, windmills, and latest breakthroughs in the field of genomics, biotechnology, nanotechnology nuclear energy are featured in the 4-day science exposition.

Click below for the official video from Radio-Television Malacanang (RTVM) of the Expo Science 2011 opening (27July 2011)

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtdsRsM7Xsw]