Telemedicine devices to ease monitoring of patients during COVID-19 crisis: DOST

MANILA- The Department of Science and Technology said Friday it would deploy telemedicine devices to 2 hospitals to help ease monitoring of patients as the coronavirus pandemic persists.

Two hundred sets of telemedicine device RxBox will be distributed to the Philippine General Hospital and another Laguna-based hospital, DOST Secretary Fortunato Dela Peña said.

"Ang objective po nito ay maipakita na pupuwedeng mamonitor ang ating pasyente na hindi madalas nilalapitan ng health worker dahil yun pong vital signs ay nare-relay," he said.

(The objective of this is to show that health workers can monitor patients even without close contact at most times because vital signs can still be relayed.)

The device would also enable healthcare workers to monitor more patients.

According to its website, the RxBox can capture medical signals through built-in medical sensors. It can monitor a patient's vital signs, blood pressure, heart movement, and even detect a pregnancy.

The device was initially designed for deployment to rural areas but is being repurposed to help frontliners leading the fight against COVID-19 for the meantime, Dela Peña said.