ICT in medicine: PREGINET at the 3rd Philippine Telemedicine Symposium
The Philippine Research, Education, and Government Information Network (PREGINET) of the Department of Science and Technology-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI) has been working hand-in-hand with the Telemedicine Network of the Philippines (TNP) in expanding the telemedicine community to achieve more accessible and advanced healthcare.
On 19 January 2019, PREGINET supported the 3rd Philippine Telemedicine Symposium at the Dagupan Doctors Villaflor Memorial Hospital. The symposium was a joint project of TNP and Telemedicine Development Center of Asia (TEMDEC) of Kyushu University, with the theme “Building Tele-connections in Healthcare”. The event seek to understand significant developments in telemedicine and demonstrate and learn its application in different health programs. The symposium covered the topics: 1) challenges and benefits of telemedicine in health institutions; 2) global challenges in telemedicine; 3) tele-health session on the advances in endoscopy; 4) clinical significance in the use of telemedicine in hospital/organization/institution; 5) use of telemedicine in clinical practice; and 6) common mistakes and difficulties in setting up and maintain the practice of telemedicine.
Mr. Alvin M. de Gracia, one of PREGINET’s network engineers, shared his expertise in the field of telemedicine by setting up the video conference equipment while discussing “Telemedicine over Research Networks". He also tackled the following topics in his presentation: 1) network infrastructure of DOST-ASTI; 2) how PREGINET operates and supports applications in the field of space technology, agriculture, distance learning, and disaster mitigation among others; 3) various domestic and international links established; and 4) telemedicine activities that PREGINET had supported in the past. Mr. de Gracia also conducted training among local technical staff on the operations of telemedicine after his presentation.
The 3rd Philippine Telemedicine Symposium was attended by doctors, nurses, and professionals interested in the field of telemedicine like Mr. Rickard John Garcia, Dr. Catherine The, Dr. Jeffrey Domino, Dr. Alvin Marcelo, Dr. Raymond Sarmiento, Dr. Nobuo Saito, Dr. Gian Carpo, Dr. Banny Bay Genuino, Dr. Tomohiko Moriyama, and Dr. Shuji Shimizu, the Chair of Medical Working Group of the Asia Pacific Advanced Network and the Director of TEMDEC.
