PayMaya, Makati Med to pilot teleconsultation

PayMaya, the digital financial services arm of PLDT’s Voyager Innovations, has teamed up with the Makati Medical Center (MMC) to offer healthcare consultations even while patients are at home.

MMC’s “teleconsultation” service is being piloted by a number of doctors of the hospital, allowing them to provide necessary healthcare advice and consultations even from a location outside of their clinic.

By utilizing teleconsultation, PayMaya said MMC is not only helping promote social distancing, but is also ensuring the safety of the patients and the medical staff.

“We are one with Makati Medical Center in looking for solutions that will help address people’s needs during this critical time,” PayMaya president Shailesh Baidwan said.

“By enabling their teleconsultation with digital payments, we allow them to lower the risk of acquiring or spreading the virus among doctors and patients while helping them continue to provide much-needed healthcare services despite the public health situation,” Baidwan said.

Through technology-aided video conferencing apps such as Zoom, both doctors and patients can communicate with each other even from long distances to have quick medical consultations when needed.

Once the consultation is over, PayMaya said patients would receive an SMS from their doctor which will contain details on how they can pay for the consultation fee via their PayMaya account.

Doctors participating in the teleconsultation service will also have their own PayMaya QR code which they can ask patients to scan using the PayMaya app to pay the teleconsultation fee.

“As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. And at times like this where we are facing an unprecedented crisis, our response must be innovative as well,” MMC medical director and interim co-CEO Saturnino Javier said.

“Hopefully, as we pilot this teleconsultation service, we are able to provide much-needed expert medical advice to our patients who are staying home while we continue being on the frontline fighting the COVID-19 pandemic here in the Philippines,” he said.

PayMaya said patients who want to reach their MMC doctor for medical consultation from the comfort of their home may contact them directly or check at 8888-8999 if their doctor provides remote consultation through teleconferencing.

It said patients with existing doctor-patient relationship is the minimum eligibility requirement and those who do not require immediate or urgent care.

PayMaya is the only financial technology company in the country that offers end-to-end payment solutions with the widest on-ground branch network.