Patient-centered healthcare website launched

MANILA, Philippines – Health experts are happy to note that patients are now taking a more active stakeholder role in the treatment of their medical conditions. 

They ask more questions to their doctors and research more about their illnesses so they can participate in the decision-making process on what would be the best form of intervention or therapy suited for them.

This is the guiding principle behind the launching of a new locally attuned, patient-centered healthcare website.

Called the Patient Centricity website, it focuses on the importance of informed and empowered patients using the Internet as a medium.

Unlike other healthcare websites, the Patient Centricity website features stories of patients in a more comprehensive, easy to understand, and practical A to Z reference of disease and conditions.

“Patient Centricity lies at our company’s core values of caring, curing, and improving lives,” said Christine Liwanag, corporate affairs and market access director of Novartis Healthcare Philippines.

Some of the diseases included in the websites are Alzheimer’s disease, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), asthma, breast cancer and other forms of cancer, dengue, diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, osteoporosis, and tuberculosis.

Other than the diseases, it also features locally available prescription drugs as well as vaccines, other therapies and over-the-counter preparations.  

It also provides useful information to guide patients in improving access to various proven healthcare therapies.

“In designing the website, we were guided that well-informed patients can take a more active role in caring for their health,” Liwanag said.

The website also features some of Novartis’ undertakings with various international organizations and Filipino doctors in providing innovative medications to Filipino patients.

The website features the partnership with the Department of Science and Technology in holding the Biotechnology Leadership Camp (BioCamp).

BioCamp is an annual biotechnology workshop for young, promising Filipino scientists and researchers, who are given the opportunity to participate in the International BioCamp.

“We want to truly understand how patients cope with their diseases, how they interact with their doctors, and how the treatments help them,” said Eric van Oppens, president and CEO of Novartis Healthcare Philippines.

Novartis is one of the well-respected international companies noted for its corporate social responsibility. It puts a premium on research and development, on which improvement of patient care lies in the future.

Novartis Philippines, with the help of the World Health Organization, has already provided more than 80,000 treatments for malaria, assisted at least 1,000 cancer patients in 2003, and provided financial assistance to more Filipinos over the years.

In 2007 alone, the company’s Glivec International Patient Assistance Program (GIPAP) provided benefits worth over P1.2 billion to Filipino patients.