Since its inception, HMI has been certified by the Philippine Department of Health, DNV for ISO 9000 Quality Management Systems, the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) and MARINA. Its Medical Director, Dr. Roberto Abaya, has received accreditation from the UK-MCA, Netherlands Shipping Inspectorate, Norwegian Institute Shipping, and Swedish Marine Management, which has allowed the clinic to service Filipino seafarers on multinational ships.
HMI is one of the first PEME clinics in the Philippines to implement a completely automated system for medical records. In the early stages of its operation, HMI engaged in the development of proprietary software to obtain, record, store and retrieve electronic health records and deliver these to any point in the world.

Through a virtual private network (VPN) that was set up with PTC, both HMI and PTC are capable of sharing demographic databases. There is a scheduler program in PTC’s crewing offices which - on real time – allows for HMI to view crew appointment schedules and pertinent data beforehand, thus shortening the examination process and adding quite a level of convenience for the crew.

When a seafarer steps into HMI’s reception area, his name appears on the registrar’s “dashboard.” Upon confirmation of his identity, he is assigned a bar code that is tagged to his wrist. A “virtual folder” is then created where all his data is stored. As he goes through the various testing stations, he is identified through this bar code. His data is seen only by a specific station and only the corresponding test result is seen by the examiner. This is done to preserve patient confidentiality throughout the whole testing process.

Being a complete diagnostic facility, HMI has offered a full range of diagnostic services from full blood chemistry, immunology studies, and x-rays; to audiometry, optometry services , ECG, treadmill stress testing and ultrasound.

One of its special features is the comprehensive Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE) which is a battery of tests to evaluate body kinetics. It assesses a seafarer’s ability to perform repetitive physical functions such as lifting, crawling, walking; and examines flexibility, fine motor skills and tolerance for elevated work.  Initially developed by Chevron, this has evolved as a gold standard for true seafarer fitness with regards body kinetics. More and more, the FCE is being used as a routine step in the PEME process.

Through the FCE, HMI is able to observe a seafarer’s walking gait. There is a flight of stairs - to nowhere - to see if he or she may be hiding some hip or gait problem. Manual dexterity is tested with nuts and bolts, shoulder function with cans, and lower back problems with a lifting box. These tests are conducted not only to find defects but also to teach seafarers the proper way to perform these tasks, thus preventing any form of chronic injury. As the examination is taking place, there is constant BP and heart rate monitoring.

As a result of HMI’s stringent standard of examination, HMI is proud of a very low repatriation rate of less than 1% on account of illness. As it looks towards its third year, HMI is actively embarking on health education and illness prevention programs to better serve its patients and to further strengthen PTC’s commitment to the overall well-being of its seafarers.