Philippines urged to use international telehealth standards

IDG News Service — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:35:00 -0400

With the current population increase outgrowing the local healthcare resources, lawmakers and doctors in the Philippines are calling for the immediate adoption of international telehealth standards or E-health -- the practice of applying ICT for healthcare delivery and education for the underserved.

"We must maximize telehealth potential and adopt international telehealth standards," said Senator Edgardo Angara, in his keynote address read at the first "eHealth & Telemedicine Philippines 2009" conference and exhibition which opened yesterday at the Crowne Plaza Galleria in Quezon City.

In his speech read by Department of Science and Technology (DOST) undersecretary Fortunato "Boy" Dela Pena, Angara stressed that the mandate remains the same in solving the country's problem on healthcare, which is improving the scope and quality of healthcare while driving down its cost. And the best solution he said is "E-Health."

Angara, who pushed for the creation of the Congressional Commission on Science and Technology and Engineering (COMSTE), said the adoption of international telehealth standards can be achieved by promoting international collaboration, sharing and learning experiences from other countries.

Yet he said the Philippines must look inwards by directing further research on telehealth technologies and systems that could be best implemented in the country.

"We need E-health because it brings health human resources to remote areas, delivers clinical expertise to regions where it is absent and badly needed to save lives, and it allows for better utilization of resources and expertise by tracking the allocation of health professionals," Angara said, citing some of the benefits of e-health.

Angara reported that COMSTE, together with the UP-Manila National Telehealth Center (NThC) and other stakeholders, are forming a consensus in strengthening the current local telehealth system and recently allotted Php100 million for the project.

Angara added members of the Engineering Research and Development for Technology (ERDT), a group of engineers dedicated to the improvement of low-cost biomedical devices and ICT for health, are also complementing the efforts being done by COMSTE and the NThC.

"Advocate E-Health not for your sake, but your children's. They will inherit the problems of today," Angara told conference audience, who are mostly doctors, administration officers and IT personnel in private hospitals.