Philippine telco supports winning health market innovations

By eGov Innovation Editors | Dec 4, 2011

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Healthcare initiatives supported by the wireless services provider Smart Communications received awards from the Philippine Institute for Development Studies of the National Economic and Development Authority (PIDS–NEDA) and the Center for Health Market Innovations (CHMI Washington).

The first of its kind for the local healthcare sector, the Galing Likha-Kalusugan Awards pays tribute to the best health market innovations in the country, with emphasis on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in the provision of accessible, efficient, cost-beneficial healthcare programs.

Among the programs that were awarded this year was Wireless Access for Health (WAH), a multi-sectoral, public-private partnership program that equips rural health clinics in four Philippine provincial towns with computers and wireless broadband connectivity so they can computerize medical records.

Qualcomm provided funding and management with the assistance of RTI International and the US Agency for International Development, while Smart Communications gave technical assistance and carried the data on its 3G network.

The National Telehealth Center of the University of the Philippines, on the other hand, supplied the electronic health record system called the Community Health Information Tracking System (CHITS), which was further developed by the Tarlac Provincial Health Office with inputs from the Department of Health in collaboration with Tarlac State University. 

Another project that received recognition was ASCENT, a mobile application that enables trained health workers to send health data, photos and other information about indigent amputees to a centralized Web-based application via a cell phone. It is Smart’s contribution to the Walking Free Program of the PfP–Philippines and the University of the Philippines–Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH).

Smart is also helping the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) collect monthly contributions from members via the SMS. With subscribers' consent, the amount equivalent to the monthly contribution is deducted from the cellphone load every month.