The city of Navotas in the Philippines has created a partnership with the University of the Philippines Manila National Telehealth Center, also known as the UPM NTHC, to make electronic medical records accessible through mobile phones, according to Journal Online. The city’s mayor John Rey Tiangco said the proposed mobile computerised health information system would provide “information to address immediate health concerns of residents” as well as enable preventive measures against future outbreak of diseases.  He put a value of PHP2.8 million (US$66,000) on the new system.

The major said since nurses and midwives will input data electronically they will save time in filling in paper-based reports.  Navotas, which is a coastal city of approximately 250,000 residents situated north of Manila, has already made a move into the mhealth area with the purchase of 22 BlackBerry smartphones that are used by midwives on housecalls.