Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings Inc. said it is stepping up efforts to find a “new normal” solution so member hospitals can resume full services to patients, while keeping hospital foot traffic to a safe minimum.
The group is introducing virtual consultation and other services like e-pharmacy, mobile laboratories, remote patient monitoring and continuity of care beyond the hospital room.
Previously considered as a means to provide health care for remote and therefore underserved locations, telemedicine is now viewed as a way to cope amidst an overwhelmed healthcare system dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The country’s healthcare system faces unprecedented challenges because of the ongoing pandemic, caused by a virus that is unfamiliar, and seems easily transmitted,” said Metro Pacific Investment Corp. chairman Manuel Pangilinan when he designated Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital as the group’s main COVID referral facility in March.
Three months into the COVID-19 pandemic, MPHHI is now seriously looking at tapping modern information and communication technologies to virtually connect medical professionals with patients in lieu of actual physical meet-ups in hospitals or clinics.
