Cardinal Santos and Smart collaborate on mobile health app

MANILA, Philippines - Cardinal Santos Medical Center is working with the country’s leading mobile phone company to co-develop a mobile application that will help doctors coach their patients for better health.

Now being developed by Voyager, a subsidiary of Smart Communications, Inc., for smartphones, the mobile app will enable physicians to monitor and advise their patients regarding their medication, diet, exercise, and other wellness programs.

“This is more than just another mobile application.  This is a tool for a proactive approach to therapy and wellness that we want to develop at Cardinal Santos,” says Atty. Pilar Nenuca Almira, president and CEO of CSMC.

The application is being designed for use by physicians who want to monitor patients who had gone through diagnosis and treatment at the CSMC, which is owned by the Archdiocese of Manila and managed by the Metro Pacific Investment Corporation (MPIC).

A key concern, for example, is ensuring that recovering patients take their medication at the right time and in the proper doses.  The mobile app will alert patients when to take their medicine and inform the doctor of their compliance.

The app can also be used for people who have not been ill, as part of wellness programs for individuals such as pregnant women and those in their middle age whose condition would benefit from regular monitoring.

“We are building a different kind of practice.  This may sound strange coming from a hospital official, but the truth is, we don’t want to see you in our hospital beds,” Atty. Almira explains.

“And if you have to be confined, we want you out of here as soon as possible, to get well and stay well.  Mobile applications like the one we are developing with Voyager will enable us to treat and advise our patients at home, work, and wherever they may be,” Dr. Zenaida Javier Uy, CSMC Medical Director adds.

The new mobile application is being developed based on the insights of doctors of various specializations such as cardiology, endocrinology, ob-gyne, pediatrics, nutrition, and surgery.

“We are designing the application to ensure that it addresses the requirements of the physicians who will use this tool.  At the same time, we are making it user-friendly for patients and clients,” says Benjie Fernandez, chief operating officer of Voyager.

“For the hospital and its doctors, this application will enable them to maintain continuing relationships with their patients.   For patients, this will help them to get better and stay better. For both sides, therapy will be cost-effective and the outcomes will be better and longer lasting,” he adds.