Diliman, Quezon City – The National Telehealth Center (NTHC), University of the Philippines Manila gained recognition and overwhelming support from the ICT4Development community when it presented six of its research outputs in the recent ICT4PhD Conference.

eHealth researches showcased were products of the center’s work with various agencies and remote communities over the last two years. Mobile phones, computers, open source tools and how it help manage  health information for improving health care were staged themes of the presentations.

Dr. Geohari Hamoy, NTHC Research Associate, presented Dr. Portia Marcelo-Fernandez's study on the "Acceptability of mobile technology reporting by government Agencies as a tool towards monitoring the MDGs in 3 municipalities in the Philippines"

In a study presented, it was found out that mobile phones are readily available and accessible in rural areas making it viable for monitoring the Millenium Development Goals. Using java-enabled phones and open source tools for reporting “governance indicators”, health data from health centers were reported in a real time manner.

“Data are organized in maps, charts, and graphs and presented in a dashboard that gives local chief executives (LCEs) the most current health data for their municipality’s planning and budgeting”, said Dr. Geohari Hamoy, NTHC Research Associate who presented the study. The study focus on the mobile phones-use for health reporting in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDAs).

Mobile phones’ potential for improving health was supported when researches on SMS reporting and Telemedicine were presented.

“Short messaging service (SMS) were found vital for delivering on-time health reports from the field for sufficient timely intervention,” discused Ana Maria Chupungco, NTHC Chief Technology Officer, who presented an NTHC research on promoting positive behavior using SMS reporting of health data.

“After showing them (health workers) that automated generation of FHSIS (Field Health Service Information Systems) reports and sorting of data by barangay can be done in the system, there was a more positive response on the use of SMS among the health workers,” Chupungco added.

Field Health Service Information Systems are reports regulary submitted to the Department of Health (DOH)  for monitoring heallth status of the country.

Use of mobile phones were also reported helpful in telemedicine in GIDAs.  Temedicine helps patients from remote communties receive specialized care even if medical specialists are not locally available. Melissa Pedrena, RN, NTHC eHealth nurse, presented a NTHC study on government efforts to link patients to medical specilists through information communicaiton technologies (ICTs).

 “Plans are underway to expand the expert pool to include specialists to serve doctorless communities,” recounted Pedrena. “This will help improve the referral  of patients to hospitals and medical centers that are more accessible to remote rural health facilities” she furthered.

However, NTHC researchers pointed that people are still at the core of these developments. Dr. Marie Irene Sy, NTHC Research Associate, said that electronic medical records built in direct consultation with health workers is vital in health workers’ decision making on their patient, health center, and their city/municipality.

 Wrapping up is a presentation of NTHC research for government to regulate ICTs for health implementation through privacy policies. Data exchange between information systems should also be invested.

ICT4PhD is a consortia composed of the National College of Public Administration and Governance, Philippine ICT Research Network, Ideacorp, the Philippine Social Science Council (PSSC), and the Insititute of Philippine Culture.