METRO Pacific Hospital Holdings, Inc. (MPHHI) will start offering its services through digital platforms as a way to cope with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
In a statement Tuesday, the hospital unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) said it is currently exploring telemedicine, or the use of virtual consultations, e-pharmacy, mobile laboratories and remote patient monitoring as part of its operations.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the distancing restrictions that come with it, MPHHI said it wants to tap telemedicine to continue serving patients without having to visit their physical hospitals.
“Telemedicine may be our new normal,” MPHHI Chief Information Officer Eriene C. Lao said in the statement. “It augments the delivery of primary health care most especially in our country, where the doctor-to-patient ratio is a challenge.”
Some hospitals in MPHHI’s 16-hospital network already offer telemedicine solutions that were developed in-house, but the group said its plan is to have a common platform for all MPHHI hospitals.
“We feel there are also operational benefits here. Hospitals can optimize the utilization of their bed capacity, improve the efficiency of healthcare workers, allow collaboration of medical teams from across different hospitals, and give remote hospitals access to more experienced medical practitioners in the bigger hospitals,” Ms. Lao said.
MPIC is one of three Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being PLDT, Inc. and Philex Mining Corp. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., maintains interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Denise A. Valdez
