Loading ...By Tom S. Noda
Published in the February 2009 print edition of Computerworld Philippines
March 31, 2009
Health care, nationalism, information technology. Put them all together and you get one heroic individual. And this is what Dr. Hypte “HR” Aujero, MD, turned out to be.
Only 29 years old, Dr. Aujero serves as assistant program manager of the National Telehealth Center (NThC), the premier center in the field of ICT applications for health in the Philippines.
Dr. Aujero says he found his niche in Philippine society by being a doctor involved in telehealth or E-Health—the practice of applying ICT for healthcare delivery and education for the underserved. It is an alternative means of delivering health services.
“At NThC, we use ICT to provide and support health care when distance separates the doctors from their patients,” Dr. Aujero says, referring to NThC’s three main arms such as E-Medicine, E-Learning and E-Records.
A distance doctor, Dr. Aujero uses whatever available ICT infrastructure to serve patients in different places all at the same time. For instance, he uses the Internet, a cell phone network, two-way radio, and other technologies, making obsolete, somehow, the “Doctor is Out” signage.
Pledging loyalty to his motherland, Dr. Aurejo was only 11 years old when he promised he’d never leave the Philippines. And the commitment still holds, he claims, finding sense and fulfillment in telehealth.
“Call me corny or mushy, but I do this because I love our country. And I want to be part of her when she rises again,” Dr. Aujero says.
Dr. Aujero explains telehealth’s logic rests in the fact that many health care professionals may not be able to reach all corners of the country. But technology as common as the cellular phone can be used almost anywhere as a tool for health care delivery.
“With the emigration of our talented health care providers and other professionals abroad, it is the public, especially those in remote and isolated areas who are greatly affected,” he says. “One thing that can complement the existing health system is telehealth community service.”
And despite the many greater opportunities abroad, Dr. Aujero confirms that his promise not to leave the Philippines doesn’t fade.
“I will do whatever small part I can in nation-building. I’d rather be part of the ones plugging the holes than the ones jumping ship,” Dr. Aujero says.
Earning a Doctor in Medicine degree at the University of the Philippines in 2006, Dr. Aujero joined NThC and became a project coordinator for the Buddyworks, an E-Gov funded project aimed at establishing a telehealth system with 10 sites in four provinces (Cagayan Valley, Capiz, Leyte, and Lanao del Norte) allowing doctors there to consult with specialists in UP-PGH using the Internet. From then on, he was assigned in different remote areas in the Philippines to do telehealth. Some of these places are Negros and the Batanes Islands, two isolated places lacking specialists and are very suitable for telemedicine.
Dr. Aujero shares he still pursues other advancements in the field of health science such as surgery and dreams someday of establishing a biotechnology firm or a telehealth-related company.
Tidbits
Age: 29
Civil Status: Single
Favorite Technology: Ever since I was in the Boy Scouts, my favorite invention of man is the knife. But on a more hi-tech view, it would have to be the Internet, mobile applications/devices and the digital camera.
Philosophy in a nutshell: Carpe Diem! (Seize the day!) and hope for the best but expect the worst.
Hobbies and Interests: Reading, traveling, swimming, skin and scuba diving, health care.
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