TELECONSULTATION AS TELEMEDICINE

I started advocating telemedicine over ten years ago, but it did not take off at that time, perhaps because it was not the right time for it back then. Sad to say, I even heard the feedback that some doctors at that time did not like the idea because they could not make money from it. Fast forward to the present times, we learned from our experience in the covid pandemic that it is already the right time to use telemedicine and not only that, the doctors could make money from it in the same way as face-to-face consultations. As it is now, telemedicine in the form of teleconsultation is already very popular, except that right now, it is only available to the middle class and the upper classes who could afford it. That is so because one session of teleconsultation could cost a patient at least 800 pesos. Fortunately, there are some government officials who are finding ways to make teleconsultation available to the lower classes in such a way that it would be free of cost to them. One such official is Governor Presby Velasco of Marinduque Province, who is setting up a system that will service six municipalities. As planned, the hub of the system will be the Provincial Health Office (PHO) where the doctors will be based. The spokes will be the Municipal Health Offices (MHOs) where local residents could avail of the system via the internet. IKE SENERES/09088877282/12-28-2023