TELEMEDICINE AT THE GRASSROOTS LEVEL

TELEMEDICINE AT THE GRASSROOTS LEVEL Marinduque Governor Presby Velasco has a wonderful plan to make telemedicine available to all the 218 Barangay Health Units (BHUs) in his island province, and I am very happy to help him with the project as his Information and Communications Technology (ICT) consultant. Although the technology for telemedicine is already available in the market, it appears that no province has yet implemented a province wide telemedicine project that could connect patients from the grassroots level to the doctors at the municipal halls and the provincial capitol. By doing that, Governor Velasco will be able to achieve the goal of providing universal access to healthcare to everyone in his province. Although the project might appear to be complex, it is actually designed with a simple plan that would make it easy to implement. The one part of the plan is to install internet connectivity in each of the BHUs, using satellite or fiber, depending on what is available and affordable. The other part of the plan is to install an Electronic Medical Records (EMR) software system. As of now, EMR software is only available in private clinics, for the purpose of storing the medical records of patients in electronic form, either in Local Area Networks (LANs) or online data centers. Either way, a doctor would find it easier to diagnose a patient's ailments, because he or she has access to the medical history. Because of the internet connectivity, any patient who walks in to any BHU will be able to avail of an actual online consultation with a medical doctor who will probably be located at either the municipal hall or the provincial capitol. Of course, this system will work even if face to face consultations are not allowed. IKE SENERES/06-30-2024