Teleradiology provider aims to widen reach in rural areas

Imagine having a doctor or radiologist assess your radiological image  whether it’s an X-ray, CT scan or MRI  by just making a phone call.

An upstart diagnostics and teleradiology provider Mediaarchives Philippines Inc. is changing the way health care reaches people especially those in the provinces.

The company digitalizes the radiology procedures of hospitals in the country using IT solutions. It conducts web-based readings of medical images.

In an interview with The Star, MAPI president Armando Quintong said the initial goal was to digitalize the radiology procedures. “There was the absence of radiologists in hospitals and that really bothered me, plus the slow turnaround time,” Quintong said.

It was in 2009 when he came up with the idea after waiting for some time for an appointment with his doctor. He realized that in that government hospital, the state had no funds to invest in equipment that could provide digitized images.

Thus, MAPI was born.

The company is slowly revolutionizing teleradiology in the countryside. In essence, teleradiology is the process wherein radiological patient images such as X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs are transmitted from one location to another for the purposes of sharing studies with other radiologists and physicians.

Thus, MAPI serves as a “virtual clinic” where doctors could provide help to their patients without having a face-to-face meeting.

It has partnered with several hospitals by providing them the needed equipment, order management and after sales support for the hospitals.  At present, it has a core group of associate radiologists and aims to link selected target hospital sites in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. It has its current partner Tertiary Hospitals namely San Juan De Dios Hospital, Ospital ng Muntinlupa, Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital and its reference site in Southern Philippines Medical Center, Davao.

Moving forward, what MAPI envisions is a call center wherein the services of radiologists could be availed of by just making a phone call and viewing the interaction online.

MAPI goes to rural areas and other underserved areas while other big players chose malls and city centers as their location (MAPI has lent out X-ray equipment for a Cebu hospital for demo and part of its CSR.)

For its rural health care focus, MAPI has earned the support of government financial institutions such as state-owned Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) and UCPB.  From Landbank alone, MAPI received a loan of P75 million.

MAPI’s moves come amid concerns over the dwindling number of radiologists in the country, which could hamper delivery of healthcare to rural residents as a result of unread or undiagnosed X-ray and CT-scan.

Quintong said that as a result of the backlog, X-ray, CT scan and biopsy results are piling up in healthcare facilities in the province.

Based on MAPI estimates, there are only 1,500 radiologists in the country that could provide help to 100 million Filipinos.

It is currently in negotiations with a number of Department of Health (DOH) controlled hospitals to provide them the same IT solutions to improve the workflow in the radiology department.

“It is only through the Internet that you could augment the lack of radiologists,” Quintong said.

He said that through the MAPI portal, doctors have access to images of patients’ results even in far-flung hospitals.

“The goal in the long run is to create a call center of sorts of radiologists. I want to promote a grass roots program for far flung areas where the big guys do not go,” Quintong said.