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PIA - The Congressional Commission Science Technology and Engineering (COMSTE) prioritizes for 2011 the delivery of basic health services to the country’s remote areas and identifies National Telehealth Project to assist in the fulfilment of this top priority program.

Telehealth is a project inititated by the University of the Philippines and the Manila National Telehealth Center (UPM-NTC) and combines healthcare and technology for the delivery of health services even to far flung areas.

The Telehealth project will enable doctors to remotely diagnose patients in rural and far flung communities. This will be possible through the use of SMS and MMS services, video conferencing, and email referrals. At present the project has ten sites in four provinces, complete with workstations and training centers.
There were 1,389 telehealth referrals from remote doctor in a span of 34 months .
Department of Health Secretary Dr. Enrique Ona, a member of the COMSTE health panel stated that Information and Communication Technology plays an important role in moving towards universal health care.

Senator Edgardo Angara, COMSTE Chair said, " that aside from improving basic health care services and delivery to remote areas, telemedicine will create the foundation for digital medical records. By collecting data from patients all over the country, transitioning to a digital medical record system will become easier. The collection of digital records also creates a centralized information system that can be utilized by PhilHealth and its members.

He added,” "telehealth has the potential to become a game changer for the country. That is why I have set PHP 100 Million for funding from the 2009 budget for this program."

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