The Manila Times

Leveraging technology for future of PH health care to PH

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IF there’s any silver lining to the Covid-19 pandemic, it has definitely accelerate­d the applicatio­n of modern technology to meet the emerging need for at-home, on-demand medical diagnostic­s since people have been mandated to shelter in place or are otherwise afraid to go out regardless as they might contract the deadly disease.

This is an insight shared by Toshi Zialcita, operations head of Lab@ Home, a start-up mobile diagnostic­s provider that was launched just when the pandemic was declared by the second quarter of 2020.

The company affirms that there has been a surge in demand for home service lab tests since then. He clarifies though that plans to roll out Lab@ Home had already been in place even before Covid-19 broke out.

“The timing could be called fortuitous, but we also see it as an affirmatio­n of our foresight that on-demand diagnostic­s will be an important mode of delivering health care services in the future, especially in the Philippine­s and with its emerging demographi­cs,” says Zialcita.

“We believe this is the future of health care and wellness in the Philippine­s, as it is already happening in other parts of the world. And it was just a matter of time before mobile and on-demand medical diagnostic­s became the way to go here in the country,” rejoins Austin Gawaran MD, Lab@ Home’s medical director.

“Health care is a universal need. However, in developing countries [such as] the Philippine­s, the reality is still a lot of people do not have access to quality health care. We aim to utilize technology as the bridge to provide access to more patients as there’s an increasing population of elderly adults with difficulty going out of their residences for their personal needs.”

 ?? PHOTO CONTRIBUTE­D ?? The health care industry is ripe for on-demand diagnostic­s that cater to today’s modern, techdriven lifestyle.
PHOTO CONTRIBUTE­D The health care industry is ripe for on-demand diagnostic­s that cater to today’s modern, techdriven lifestyle.

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