Amputees in rural areas of Philippines get evaluated for prosthetics using cell phones

From Manila Standard Today:

Physicians for Peace–Philippines recently evaluated 74 amputees at the Santo Niño de Tondo health clinic through its Walking Free Program, integrating distance diagnostics and rehabilitation.

Physical therapists used a mobile application provided by Smart Communications Inc. to determine the readiness of the patients to be fitted with artificial limb.

“We decided to launch in Tondo because there is a big population of poor people here, so we can serve more,” said Lyne Abanilla, executive director of PFP-Philippines. “With our partnership with SMART, I’m sure we’ll be able to go around,”

The Amputee Screening via Cellphone NeTworking or ASCENT has mobile and Web components.

Through the mobile phone as primary source of input data, prosthesis reports consisting of patient profile, medical information including images and contact details are sent to a central server via GPRS/3G and accessed by extension health workers who come face to face with the amputees.

Data in the central server can be accessed directly from the Web, enabling doctors to view the reports remotely and evaluate the patient’s condition and immediately provide feedback to the health worker’s mobile phone for instructions on bandaging, rehabilitation, wound care and medications to facilitate prosthesis fitting and functional recovery.

Since 2005, the Walking Free Program of PFP –Philippines and University of the Philippines–Philippine General Hospital have reached out to indigent amputees nationwide through screening and prosthesis service missions, and by making artificial limbs more affordable to the beneficiaries.