P-Noy underscores importance of telehealth in health care delivery
July 27, 2011 9:06 pm | by Aliyah Lou Evangelista | Posted in News
Pasay City, Philippines — President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III highlighted the future of telehealth as one of the emerging health initiatives in achieving universal health care for Filipinos during the opening of the Expo Science 2011 at the SMX Convention Center in SM Mall of Asia.
“Nariyan ang pagtataguyod ng isang telehealth system (There is the establishment of a telehealth system), declares P-Noy. “Na magtutulay sa pangangailangang pangkalusugan ng ating mga kababayan sa malalayong lugar sa atin pong mga propesyunal sa pamamagitan ng text, email, o telepono (That would bridge the health care needs of our people in remote areas to our health care professionals through the use of text, email or telephone).”
The President affirms the contribution of telehealth in delivering health services at a distance with the latest innovations and initiatives of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). With these innovations, health care is increasingly becoming accessible to doctorless and single doctor communities in remote underserved areas.
Telehealth is the use of telecommunication technologies to provide health care services and access to medical information. It merges the power of information communication technologies (ICTs) such as email, SMS, video conference, and other related technologies for people’s improved access to health care services and for better physician care and patient management.
Last April, the government declared that it has allocated Php 30 million on the National Telehealth Service Program (NTSP). This is the proposal of the National Telehealth Center to bridge the gap between doctorless and single doctor health units in rural areas to clinical experts at telecenters. Clinical experts form Philippine General Hospital can answer queries sent by Doctors-to-the-Barrios (DttB) in remote rural areas when they need to access information in handling cases which need special attention of a clinical specialist.
“Wala na pong dahilan ngayon para matakot tayong mangarap. Manalig po kayong sa patuloy nating pagtutulungan at pagsuporta sa isa’t isa, sama-sama nating maaabot ang ating mga pangarap (There is no reason for us to dare to dream. We should believe that we can do this if we continue to help and support each other in achieving our dreams),” enthuses the President to the local science community.
