Resolve? Probably not, but it is a step in the right direction. Consider the following:
A great promise of telemedicine has been to help isolated or scattered populations gain access to health services. In industrialized countries, telemedicine has proven to be a good tool for enabling access to knowledge and allowing information exchange, and showing that it is possible to bring good quality healthcare to isolated communities.
Telemedicine is beginning to have an important impact on many aspects of health care in developing countries. When implemented well, telemedicine may allow developing countries to leapfrog over their developed neighbors in successful health care
delivery. Places such as Pakistan may find that local practitioners can provide the best advice to their patients without having to send them from small communities to large urban centers. Outposts in the highlands of Papau New Guinea may replace their radio communications from the 1970s with internet communication at little extra cost. Trainees from the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States may find excellent opportunities to gain experience in Bangladesh, Guatemala, or Nepal, while continuing to pursue their learning objectives in concert with mentors from their home institutions.
These trainees will develop collaborations with local students, which could last a lifetime, opening the way for more equitable distribution of knowledge and medical care throughout the world. Medicine rests on solid principles which can transcend political and social divisions. Telemedicine should allow us to implement advances in the spirit of our historical roots, even at a distance.
Most telemedicine projects call upon a mix of delivery paths. High-precision remote surgical interventions, for example, or remote access to very complex imagery such as brain scans, dictate the use of high-speed broadband telecommunication links. However, in many cases, the public Internet offers huge possibilities. It provides fast access to medical data, patient symptoms and expertise nationally, regionally or globally, thus bringing medical care to those who would otherwise go unattended. The improved quality of videoconference and audio tools on the Internet is also providing a valuable resource for live, remote consultation and diagnosis.
The continuing decline in the cost of telecommunications and information technology, as well as great leaps in digital imaging and compression techniques have spurred a new wave of enthusiasm for telemedicine, particularly in developing countries. It is in these countries where telemedicine’s greatest asset — allowing specialist medical expertise to be delivered to regions and locations where doctors are few on the ground — shows the best prospects for success.
For governments struggling with limited health care budgets, a shortage of doctors and other health care professionals, dispersed rural hospitals and poor transportation infrastructure, telemedicine may help them overcome these difficult challenges in meeting the health care needs of their citizens.