MOA SIGNING FOR DOST’S PHIL. HEALTH INFO EXCHANGE | Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Sec. Mario G. Montejo (center) together with Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Dr. Vicente Belizario (left)  and Philhealth President and CEO Atty. Alexander A. Padilla sign the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the Philippine Health Information Exchange (PHIE) during the 33rd anniversary of DOST’s Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) held at the Dusit Thani Manila Hotel last March 17, 2015. A project of PCHRD and DOH, the PHIE is a system that will better manage the country’s health and medical information via the harmonization of data records from hospitals and other health systems and institutions across the archipelago. The MOA signing officially sets the ball rolling for the PHIE which will ultimately improve access to information, generate better decision making based on real-time health statistics, and upgrade healthcare delivery services from the national down to the barangay level, even in rural areas. In the same event, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to set up the Philippine Biomedical Devices Consortium was also inked among representatives from the Technological University of the Philippines, Technological Institute  of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University,  Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, UP systems, and the University of the East-Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center. The MOU aims to  help develop a lab-to-market roadmap for biomedical devices in the Philippines. (Text by Espie Angelica A. de Leon / Photo by Ceajay N. Valerio, S&T Media Service, DOST-STII).