A meeting with San Remigio Municipal Health Officer Dr. Orleta B. Ursal on the ReachHealth teleconsultation program was held on January 8, 2021 at the Function Room, Hagnaya Beach Resort, Hagnaya, San Remigio.
As a background, the ReachHealth Project had established a teleconsultation program with Cebu Provincial Hospital – Bogo City and Tabuelan Rural Health Unit. Patients who cannot personally go to the rural health units of their municipalities can use their cell phones in order to contact medical personnel in the two health facilities and avail of medical consultation and health services by digital technology. The program aims to link the teleconsultation program with the rural health units of Medellin and San Remigio and the city health office of Bogo City in order to have their staff disseminate such program to their barangay health stations and residents.
The VPHCS staff through Dr. Erlinda Posadas, Edgar Gahisan and Irish Grace Ramirez presented the teleconsultation program to Dr. Ursal. Dr. Ursal said that she had a meeting the day before with Keannu Arnoco and other RTI staff regarding establishing a teleconsultation program in San Remigio Rural Health Unit. She was asked by Mr. Arnoco to make a letter of request to the RTI International to be provided with equipment including cell phones, laptop, WIFI gadgets and simcards in order to be used for teleconsultation purposes.
Dr. Ursal said that she was open for teleconsultation Mondays to Fridays from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. She would have a nurse take charge of receiving telephone calls from patients seeking teleconsultation services and writing down the information about the patients before she accepts the patients herself.
She also said that it was very unfortunate that she learned that there were some doctors in the Cebu Provincial Hospital – Bogo City who, instead of treating the patients there, referred the latter to a private clinic in San Remigio where those doctors would treat them, for a fee. There were also some private doctors who were treating patients through teleconsultations but they had to be paid first before the treatment.
Thus, having a teleconsultation will enable patients to get free services without having to personally see doctors for their check ups.
Dr. Ursal also said that the San Remigio Rural Health Unit can maximize the teleconsultation program in the Cebu Provincial Hospital – Bogo City as part of the referral system of patients needed to be referred there for secondary and tertiary care.
