BANTAYAN ISLAND, Cebu -- Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) is piloting a system that will allow hospitals to access patient health records stored on mobile phones.

The system runs on near-field communications (NFC), a wireless technology that allows devices to send and receive data over a distance of about 10 centimeters. NFC is an extension of RFID, which likewise enabled devices such as mobile phones to retrieve data from small chip-like devices called RFID tags.

PhilHealth's system basically enables to patients to store health records on NFC-enabled handsets. These handsets connect wirelessly to RFID readers to send and receive data.

The system was launched earlier this month and is being piloted in three hospitals in Metro Manila, said Miko Valerio, vice president of AC Corporation, a local firm handling the PhilHealth project.

"We will start storing basic information such as a patient's history of illness and drug prescription," Valerio said in an interview with INQUIRER.net.

The system can lead to many applications outside of hospitals. A patient, for example, can receive a specific drug dosage which can then be accessed by readers installed in drugstores, which then automatically update the information.

The system will be using NFC-enabled handsets from phone maker Nokia. Aside from Nokia, other handset makers like Samsung and Sony Ericsson have come out with similar handsets although not available locally.

AC Corp., a former subsidiary of Ayala Corp, specializes in RFID integration. It is handling a project for the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) which is being launched here.