Global mobile industry organization GSMA, in its its latest report, cited Globe Telecom Inc.'s health solutions for reaching millions of Filipinos during the pandemic.
KonsultaMD, Globe's subscription-based 24/7 telemedicine service, reached more than one million members in 2021 while telehealth and medicine delivery provider, HealthNow, processed 20,000 medicine delivery orders daily and administered over one million COVID-19 vaccines.
This was according to the GSMA's 96-paged "2022 Mobile Industry Impact Report: Sustainable Development Goals".
Worldwide, 2.1 billion people used their phones to improve or monitor their health, representing an increase of 270 million people since 2020, the GSMA report revealed.
When the pandemic magnified weaknesses in the healthcare system, remote, virtual solutions filled the gap according to GSMA.
The past year was challenging given “geopolitical upheaval, rising inflation, and the effect of the climate crisis affecting billions around the world”, the organization pointed out.
Indeed, “Connectivity has become a lifeline to Filipinos as we recover from the pandemic, which accelerated our shift to becoming a more digital society," stressed Globe Group President and CEO Ernest Cu.
"Globe has been at the forefront of the Philippines’ digital transformation, bringing together innovation and sustainability to deliver life-enabling services in fintech, edutech, healthtech and business solutions that propel the country’s inclusive growth and development,” he added.
Significantly, this July, KonsultaMD and HealthNow, along with another health app called AIDE, consolidated to become a one-stop health superapp under KonsultaMD.
The new superapp will be launched in the first quarter of 2023.
“This consolidation is the biggest telehealth play the country has seen and brings together the strengths of the three health apps,” KonsultaMD CEO Cholo Tagaysay concluded.