Personnel of the rural health unit (RHU) of Batuan town were able to diagnose diseases and help patients through the use of a telemedicine device that can detect not only blood pressure and chest pain but also fetal heartbeat and contractions of pregnant women.

Batuan is nearly an hour’s drive away from the provincial capital, Tagbilaran City.

The device, known as RxBox, was deployed in the town last year.Nurse Ivy Siez said it has been used not only for pregnant patients but also in patients with chest pains, which normally cannot be determined by simple visual checkups.

RxBox is a device that can examine vital medical signs through an android-operated box that has been connected to medical equipment such as sphygmomanometer, pulse oximeter, electrocardiogram, temperature sensor, fetal heart monitor, and maternal tachometer.

It also enables the creation of electronic medical records for referral and transmitting the health information to experts at the Philippine General Hospital in Manila for advice.

“If one has chest pain and is hypertensive, we refer them to the nearest hospital, but before we refer, the doctor would see if there is an abnormal reading in the ECG,” Siez told The Manila Times on Friday.

The device was also used on a hypertensive pregnant woman who was immediately referred to a tertiary hospital in Tagbilaran City last week.

“We immediately recommended immediate management because the baby [in her womb] had less oxygen supply, so we gave management such as oxygenation to the patient and the creation of an intravenous line before referring,” Siez explained.

Dr. Mark Johnuel Duavis, the rural health physician in the town, said that the RxBox device with the electrocardiogram (ECG) component helps patients with chest pains.

He added that the ECG will determine whether the patient needs specialty care in a tertiary hospital in the city or just manage it at home.

“If we delay by not diagnosing properly kung ano ‘yung case niya, for example may heart attack, minsan nalo-lose natin ‘yung golden period like in 30 minutes, dapat makita mo na ‘yung concern niya and in three to four hours, mabigyan na siya ng gamot (what would be his case, for example, heart attack, we lose that golden period where in 30 minutes, we should be able to see his concern and in three to four hours, we can give him the medicine),” Duavis said.

“It is really helpful that we have medical equipment like this,” he added.

Duavis calls the device “revolutionary” in a primary care setting, noting that the machine would give free ECG services as compared to paying P200 for the same test.

“I think RxBox’s biggest impact is in terms of preventing unnecessary deaths. At least in the primary care level, we have this to manage the patient before we send him to a tertiary facility, “Duavis said.

The RxBox machine given to Batuan RHU is part of the 1,000 devices distributed in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas.

The project is undertaken by the Department of Science and Technology (DoST)–Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD), DoST–Advanced Science and Technology Institute, University of the Philippines–Manila–National Telehealth Center, and UP Diliman–College of Engineering.

During the RxBox Health Summit held in Tagbilaran City on Thursday, DoST officials were hopeful that more areas could have the device.Science and Technology Secretary Renato Solidum said that the RxBox will fit into the DoST’s programs on “smart and sustainable communities” in partnership with local government units.

“We will leverage this program, together with local government units to showcase some of the technologies or as many technologies at the local level to make their governance efficient,” Solidum said during a press briefing at the sidelines of the summit.

He stressed the importance of showcasing the RxBox and its accompanying telemedicine capabilities to local government units will help those in areas where there are few to no doctors.

“We will continue to improve the system and together with the industry. With more units to be procured, the better for the production,” Solidum said.

Dr. Jaime Montoya, executive director of the PCHRD, said that the creation of the RxBox took them 14 years and four presidents and four secretaries of the Science and Technology department.

He added that RxBox is the technology that would capture the essence of the Universal Health Care program that is being pushed by the government, led by the Department of Health.

“I can say that this is what science is for, this is for bringing the quality of life to each and every Filipino to the hardest reaches of the country,” Montoya said.

Dr. Portia Fernandez-Marcelo, director of the National Telehealth Center of UP–Manila, agreed that the RxBox technology is also part of the government’s plan to digitize government services, especially in the field of health care.