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University of the Philippines Manila
National Telehealth Center
mHealth in the
Philippines
Alvin B. Marcelo, MD
Goals for this Presentation


Provide examples of how we use
mobile phones for health in the
Philippines
Present results of our research on
using mHealth for delivering care to
remote underserved areas
State of (ill-) health: Why?

Philippines

90 million people

Growing at 2 million per year

7,107 islands

Maldistribution of doctors and nurses to urban
areas and few/none in rural areas
Opportunity for mHealth

Philippines



Three wireless providers
75% penetration rate (with several having more
than one line)
“the texting capital of the world with 2 BILLION text
messages exchanged everyday”
OneHEALTH Program
eMedicine (Telemedicine)
eLearning for Health
eRecords (CHITS)
NATIONAL TELEHEALTH CENTER
University of the Philippines Manila
Quality health care through ICT...
Telemedicine in the Philippines
6 years of experience and
collaborations with DOH-DTTBs
with research support from DOST
RESEARCH
CICT
2004
DOST, 2008
SERVICE
DTTBs
20082011
How do we do Telemedicine?
We train health workers how to use the cellphone
to effectively collaborate with doctors,
specialists, and other health workers in their
region.
TELEMEDICINE
Internal
Medicine
How it Works
Doctor-tothe-Barrio
Pediatrics
Radiology
6th
4th, 5th,
class LGUs
NTSP
Central
Dermatology
Doctor-less
site
*** Ethical, legal, and social framework
for the practice of telemedicine
Ophtha
Others
PGH and DOH regional hospitals
TELEMEDICINE
How it Works
We built a network of doctors.
We defined guidelines and protocols.
We trained the network.
We use SMS, MMS, voice and email.
PGH and DOH regional hospitals
Stories of Telemedicine
Skin Diseases among Tribesmen
•
A young doctor with a cellphone saw a unique
skin problem among the tribesmen
•
Using his cellphone camera (with patient
consent), he referred the case to Manila
•
Dermatologist recognizes the problem as a
rare skin disease and asks for more
examinations
•
Young doctor complies and sends
confirmatory images
•
Patients got treated appropriately and in a
timely manner
Results



Telemedicine is possible in geographically
isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDA)
Telemedicine is fraught with ethical, social, and
legal challenges (read: should only be done by
trained health professionals and certified
personnel). Protocols are important.
Telemedicine is expensive for few sites, but
costs go down with more sites
NTSP
National Telehealth Service Program

We are now in the process of finalizing a grant
from the Government to offer the services on a
national scale.
Thank you for listening
[email protected]