SUMMARY OF THE LTO MEDICAL INTERCONNECTIVITY PROJECT

As per Republic Act No. 4136, the Land Transportation and Traffic Code, only accredited
physicians were allowed to conduct medical examination for applicants of driver’s license. Over the
years the term LTO Accredited Physician has been redefined in our laws. In 1979, the Ministry of
Transportation and Communications (now DOTr), defined LTO Accredited Physician as a reputable
doctor of medicine duly licensed to practice in the Philippines and a member of good standing with
the Philippine Medical Association (PMA). However, in 2015, by virtue of Administrative Order AVT-
2015-026, the term LTO Accredited Physician has come to mean as any doctor of medicine duly
licensed to practice in the Philippines, who examines applicants for the Drivers’ and Conductors’
licenses and issue medical certificates as proof thereof.

To date, the definition embodied in A.O. AVT-2015-026 is still prevailing today but has
unfortunately paved way to rampant proliferation of fake medical certificates and fraudulent
physicians. This led the public to perceive the issuance of medical certificate as unnecessary and worst
as a joke. It has also resulted to decommissioning committees handling the accreditation of physicians.
Legitimate doctors found themselves competing in the market with undercharging but illegally
operating clinics or fraudulent doctors. It is for these reasons that doctors belonging to the LTO-
Medical Industry lobby themselves for an interconnectivity with the LTO-IT System.

A group of doctors, who were previously LTO Accredited Physicians, organized an association
called “Drive D.” It attempted twice in 2015 to call the attention of LTO in order to raise their concern
about A.O. AVT-2015-026 and to request that a linkage be provided to facilitate the electronic
submission of Medical Examination Certificates directly to the LTO-IT System. In both instances they
received no response from LTO. While Drive D was unsuccessful in their correspondence with LTO, it
approached Stradcom for preliminary discussions on the possible linkage to assess the technical
feasibility. Stradcom replied in the affirmative and began scoping the requirements based on the
physicians’ concept and needs.

Stradcom, being the current LTO-IT Project Proponent and the sole entity capable to create the
possible and direct linkage to the LTO-IT System, is competent to deliver effective solutions to address
the concerns of Drive D on the rising proliferation of fake certificates and fraudulent doctors. It was
able to develop a system called the LTO-Medical Interconnectivity, which features a single standard
front-end application that would provide authentication, facilitate electronic uploading of Medical
Examination Certificates directly to the LTO-IT Systems, and adjustments to the Driver’s Licensing
Module of the LTO-IT System to reflect the presence (or lack of) of uploaded Medical Certificates for
Driver’s License applicants. Doctors will be required to log-in using designated user accounts with
corresponding passwords and may only electronically submit test results by signing-off the uploading
using their fingerprints to ensure that they are always present when conducting the examination. As
cost recovery, Stradcom would require payment of P80.00, VAT inclusive, per successfully uploaded
Certificate from concerned physicians.

In 2016, after the LTO-Medical Interconnectivity system has been developed, Drive D again
tried to consult with LTO to air their grievances about unscrupulous individuals who freely sell medical
certificate without the presence of any physician or a clinic and to request for a linkage to the LTO-IT
System. This time the doctors’ plight was heard by Assec Edgar C. Galvante. The latter even instructed
them to conduct consultation with their fellow doctors in the regions, regarding the possible
incorporation of Information Technology in their practice, and confer with LTO Regional Offices about
the possible interconnectivity. Most of the feedbacks during the regional consultations were positive
and was met with pledges of support by the doctors in attendance as they saw the interconnectivity as
a potential solution to their problems.

On the other hand, by virtue of an office order in December 2016, the LTO-Medical Ad-Hoc
Committee was created to review the LTO-Medical Interconnectivity. On the same month, the LTO-
Medical Ad-Hoc Committee conducted a meeting with LTO MID Stradcom to discuss the Business
Procedure Specifications (BPS) of the system to be used. This resulted to the approval of the BPS and
the signing of a resolution by the committee to conduct functional testing of the facility for a more in-
depth assessment. The committee conducted the functional test of LTO-Medical. All functions of the
facility were simulated and tested to ensure that all the facets of functionality are covered. Based on
the activity, the committee then released a resolution which endorsed the Beta Live Testing of the
facility to have it deployed and assessed in the live actual environment.

During the Beta Live Testing in February 2017, the first day saw two minor system issues - one
was yielding no record found when searching for DL records of applicants (when in fact there should
have been), and the second was an Internet Information Services (IIS) server problem. The former was
resolved by increasing the bandwidth allocation ensuring that uploading went through. Meanwhile,
the IIS server problem was resolved by simply restarting the IIS server. Outside the minor system
issues, there was handful of procedural errors due to the users’ unfamiliarity with the system. Since
the Beta Live Testing in February, procedural errors have gone down by as much as 80%. This
improvement is anticipated as the doctors get used to the system.

Interestingly, another group of doctors have organized an association named Philippine Society
of Medicine for Drivers (PSMeD), and commissioned an IT Company to develop a system that allegedly
also addresses the challenges encountered by their ranks in the conduct of issuing a medical certificate
for driver’s license. The system employs the use of biometrics as a start of day sign-on of the doctor
upon initial log in. However, it appears that the provider do not require the doctors to procure a
network that suggests to connect with a central repository system for all the transactions to be
processed. Data could either be stored locally, sent via email or collected manually which is susceptible
to human intervention resulting to errors and possible data manipulation. It also utilizes a QR code,
also known as a matrix barcode, printed on medical certificates which are to be manually read by LTO
via a QR Code reader to determine authenticity. Note that QR Code can be copied and reprinted
elsewhere since it does not contain data unique to the actual medical certificate printed. The provider
will charge P30.00, VAT Exclusive, for each transaction processed under their system.

Although Drive D and PSMeD are groups with different systems, the two are one and the same
in their advocacy to address the problem on the rampant proliferation of fake medical certificates and
fraudulent physicians in the LTO-Medical Industry. The proposals of these groups of LTO Medical
physician manifest their dedication to uphold and go beyond their Hippocratic oath to conduct a
thorough and truthful medical examination in relation to drivers/conductors license and ensure that
they help out in keeping the road safe by issuing medical certificates to those only deemed fit to drive.
However, these proposals presented by LTO Medical physicians would remain as a mere idea and
would be rendered useless, until the LTO makes any sound decision on what system to adopt that
would eventually solve the problem on the issuance of fake medical certificates for driver’s license
applicants.