The upcoming HIT-PH Conference in Metro Manila on May 22-23 focuses on the rapid advance of Information Technology in this sector.
“The Philippine healthcare industry is entering the digital age,” according to the conference organizers, Exist Healthcare IT and Goldcrest Communications. “The use of IT systems in hospitals holds great potential to improve operational efficiencies, promote better clinical outcomes and enhance patient engagement.”
Mobility will be a key topic at this event, covering the use of mobile devices at bedside, barcode technology employed to minimize data-entry errors, and scanning technology to improve record retrieval. Other topics include the use of portals to engage patients online, and the use of cloud computing to scale health IT infrastructures.
In the ongoing research we do at the Tau institute for Global ICT Studies, the Philippines ranks as an emerging regional leader.
Continued improvements in the area of bandwidth are needed, something that’s recently been highlighted by problems with some of the submarine cables serving the country. In contrast, a local investment of US$65 million in a new cable – the “SJC” – addresses this ongoing issue.
The healthcare sector will no doubt benefit as things improve, although our research does show the country as presenting a significant challenge to its government and industry to achieve the improvement it needs. The HIT-PH Conference should provide a unique opportunity for these issues to be addressed and discussed.