“What this will do for the country is that of eventually providing the expert medical services of specialists in even our remotest barrio.”
by Ducky Paredes
Representative Joseph Emilio Aguinaldo Abaya (LP, 1st district Cavite), the co-chair of the Congressional Commission on Science & Technology and Engineering (COMSTE), will be filing a bill called the National Telehealth Service Act of 2009. The bill once passed into law would deploy a national telehealth system across the country.
What is this about? Telemedicine? This looks like a natural for the Philippines, which easily became the texting capital of the world with the introduction of the cellular telephone. An experiment by science and engineering students of the Ateneo de Manila University last year used the camera on cell phones to capture the results of urine tests (color change when exposed to a chemical agent) which were then transmitted to laboratory technician who then gave the result of the test. Imagine how much things like these could help folk in the rural areas with no access to laboratories!
Telemedicine would transfer via the telephone, the Internet or other networks for the purpose of consulting and accessing remote medical procedures or examinations.
Telemedicine may be as simple as two health professionals discussing a case over the telephone as a referral or mentoring call, or as complex as using satellite technology and video-conferencing equipment to conduct a real-time consultation between medical specialists in two different locations. What this will do for the country is that of eventually providing the expert medical services of specialists in even our remotest barrio.
Abaya says: “We are talking here about the kind of public-private partnership that is sustainable, and which will bring about a new and much better way in delivering health services to the public, especially to the marginalized.”
The deployment is a result of the successful pilot of the UP Manila National TeleHealth Center (UPM-NThC) system led by Dr. Alvin Marcelo, which is currently in service between UPM-NThC and its provincial sites in Batanes, Pasay, Marikina, Quezon Province and Capiz, among others. The current UP Manila telehealth system is able to provide basic electronic health record registry via the Community Health Information System (CHITS), audiovisual education to local health workers and professionals through E-learning and video conferencing, and tele-referral and tele-mentoring to Doctors-to-the-Barrios (DTTB) using SMS technology through the Buddyworks Program.
COMSTE Executive Director Gregory Tangonan adds: “Deploying telemedicine and digitized family medical records in the Philippines translates directly into better barangay medical services and to the improved wellness of our people. State of the art medicine as practiced in our best public and private hospitals can then serve the under-served in our remotest areas, using our broadband networks.”
What is exciting about this is that the cellular phone and the internet could morph into real public health tools, and graduate from being only gadgets for sending jokes and setting up Friendster, You Tube and Facebook sites.
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I cannot imagine the lack of understanding among Pinoys that Australia is not being unreasonable if it does not buy as many bananas from the Philippines as do Japan, Russia and the United States. The simple fact is that Australia actually has a banana industry.
Rep. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza sees Australia as “unreasonably stalling the entry of Philippine banana exports.
“We are saddened that up to now, Australia has yet to eliminate apparent barriers to the freer entry of Philippine bananas.
Emmylou comes from Cotabato (formerly North Cotabato which exports bananas to Japan, the US, South Korea and the Middle East. The fruit thus gives jobs to tens of thousands of Filipinos.
But, the congresswoman is wrong to say: “For years, Philippine bananas have been well-received by other countries reputed to have excellent quarantine standards. There’s really no reason for Australia to adopt overly prohibitive measures against our bananas.”
Australia is overly strict in importing bananas because it also has a banana industry. In fact, when the congresswoman points out that Australia produces only 270,000 metric tons while the Philippines produces around 7.5 million MT, this is actually the main reason why the Aussies will not allow our cheaper bananas into Australia. The Australian Banana Growers Council, Inc.are enjoying good prices for their crop. If they let in the cheaper Philippine bananas, their banana growers will lose their market.
Thus, it is unreasonable for us to try to force Australia to buy Philippine bananas when they hafve their own home-grown banana industry which they continue to support. Would we allow other countries to force us to buy their sugar, their coconuts or their bananas?
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When Diosdado Macapagal was President, among the concepts that he introduced was that of “command responsibility” whereby the President allowed himself to be held responsible for whatever his government did.
Thus, it is sad that Senator Richard Gordon has to say that while the Blue Ribbon committee may have found no evidence directly linking the President (who happens to be Diosdao’s daughter) to the Fertilizer Scam of 2004, the acts of those responsible for the scam “are deemed acts of the President.”
The report filed by the Blue Ribbon says: “Since there was no reprobation or disapproval coming from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regarding their actions, it can be easily inferred that the President acquiesced to such acts.
“Does anyone really believe that Bolante et al. would have been able to malverse such a gargantuan amount and continue to evade all sorts of liability without the acquiescence of Malacañang?”
Too bad that Cong Dadong is no longer around to comment on the acts of the present government.
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The Media Competition in the 62nd PAL Tournament was handily won by Inquirer Senior Desk Editor Ernie Gonzales playing in a mostly Inquirer flight. In his flight were Musong Castillo and Jong Arcano who were introduced to golf by Ernie himself (who in turn was a protégé of Star’s Lito Tacujan). Ernie, at 62 (not his score but his age) finally won after being bridesmaid for so long. In the running after the first day, Ernie played the first four holes at Rancho Palos Verdes at only one over (par, par, par, bogey). That immediately wiped out whatever competition was left. By the time Ernie was on his last three holes, his flight was cheering him on to finally win a competition that he had played for so long without success.
That an Inquirer man would win is almost a foregone conclusion. There are simply more Inquirer personnel at the PAL Interclub than any other news organization from anywhere in the world. (Inquirier has golfers at every level from the owners down.) Malaya had a lone competitor; as did a lot of other news organizations.
Congratulations, Ernie; you played good, man!
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hvp 02.24.09)
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