City Hospital Starts Treatment of Mentally-ill Patient Via ‘Video Conferencing’

Cagayan De Oro City — The city-owned hospital here has started treating a “schizophrenic” patient through “video conferencing,” Dr. Ramon Nery, the executive officer of the J.R. Borja General Hospital here said Thursday.

The “video conference” treatment, the first in the country, started Tuesday evening on the occasion of the JRBGH 53rd anniversary, Nery said.

He said that Dr. Reagan Joseph Villanueva, a Psychiatrist of the Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City, conducted the “tele psychiatric” treatment on a 29-year-old female patient at the assigned holding room in the hospital.

Villanueva conducted a diagnostic video conference where both (Villanueva and the patient) exchange conversation,” Nery said.

He said that after the conversation with the patient, the Psychiatrist would talk to the hospital’s ward nurse to provide a medical prescription to the patient.

Nery said that the video conferencing was one of the best alternatives in the treatment of a mentally ill patient because there were only about 700 psychiatrists in the country.

If the project becomes highly successful, the JRBGH would introduce more remote tasking consultation like “tele dermatology” or “tele radiology,” Nery said.

According to Nery, the city government is now fast tracking the construction of a mental health facility at the JRBGH to cater to more mentally challenge patient in the future. (PNA) RMA/CD/MARK FRANCISCO