During the June 28, 2016 visit to the PGH of more than 70 professionals from the Rajavithi Hospital of Bangkok, the DOVS was fortunate to have the sole ophthalmology department representative, Dr. Paisan Ruamviboonsuk, as speaker in its morning conference. A former president of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists of Thailand and Thai Retina Society, Dr. Ruamviboonsuk shared his presentation on their telemedicine efforts for diabetic blindness screening in the Kingdom of Thailand. Highlighting gaps in access to specialty care, he displayed the many components of their telemedicine system. He narrated how the soundness of key facets of the program were supported by scientific research - for example, fundus image inter-observer agreement, and, sensitivity and specificity studies in evaluating non-physician health care professionals acting as readers. Partnerships were also cited across different sectors and locales - such as with IT professionals in developing an internet-based training tool, foreign donor countries for forming mobile diagnostic and laser units, and, the existence of government subsidies to compensate participating healthcare professionals. He shared how thousands of laser treatments were facilitated by the program; interventions that could possibly have not occurred if not for telemedicine. In the open forum that followed, a number of interesting discussion points emerged. Dr. Paolo Silva, active telemedicine researcher in the National Institutes of Health-Institute of Ophthalmology and Joslin Institute-Harvard Medical School, exchanged insights on the technical aspects of telemedicine. The complexity of ensuring accuracy of data and output - including re-examining interobserver agreement data, photography techniques, and standardizing viewing platform output - was made very apparent. The potential in using mobile platforms was discussed. The participation of colleagues in internal medicine was also highlighted, when Dr. Ruamviboonsuk narrated to Endocrinology fellows in attendance that they would tend to be positioned at the head of the referral chain, being the source in many cases. Ending his talk, Dr. Ruamviboonsuk spoke of the joy in raising the Thai flag at the 2012 United Nations Public Service Award - expressing the wish for Filipino professionals to do the same, soon. As individual nations continue to address each one's particular, historical challenges, the benefits of ASEAN integration beckon. As exchanges of knowledge and goodwill hasten the creation of functional and rich relationships, these events certainly were, in no small measure, solid steps toward a better tomorrow for all in Southeast Asia. |
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July 2020
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
University of the Philippines College of Medicine - Philippine General Hospital Taft Avenue, Manila 1000 REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES TELEPHONE: +63-02-554-8400 loc 8502 EMAIL: [email protected] |