DUSHANBE, March 31, 2009, Asia-Plus — The Ministry of Health (MoH) intends to establish the National Telemedicine Center.
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, the head of the special aid department within the MoH directorate for organization of medical services, Safar Sayfuddinov, said that the center would be established with assistance of the CIS states, where care at distance has been practiced for already several years.
“Last Saturday, we provided participation of specialists from the Sughd province at the ministry’s board meeting due to use of video-conferencing equipment,” said Sayfuddinov, “if we hold some 15-16 such meetings during they year, we will save 35,000-40,000 somoni that are usually spent for travels of specialists from one region alone to Dushanbe.”
Telemedicine is a rapidly developing application of clinical medicine where medical information is transferred via telephone, the Internet or other networks for the purpose of consulting, and sometimes remote medical procedures or examinations.
Telemedicine may be as simple as two health professionals discussing a case over the telephone, or as complex as using satellite technology and video-conferencing equipment to conduct a real-time consultation between medical specialists in two different countries. Telemedicine generally refers to the use of communications and information technologies for the delivery of clinical care.
Telemedicine is practiced on the basis of two concepts: real time (synchronous) and store-and-forward; and Home Health (asynchronous).
Telemedicine is most beneficial for populations living in isolated communities and remote regions and is currently being applied in virtually all medical domains. Telemedicine is also useful as a communication tool between a general practitioner and a specialist available at a remote location.
