Telemedicine via satellite: Linking eHealth and development in rural Peru and Brazil

Access to health care services is extremely difficult for many rural and underserved regions of Latin America, particularly in rural Peru and Brazil. MEDNET attempts to redress this issue by developing a medical health network in selected sites in rural Peru and Brazil with the help of the collaboration medical application TeleConsult. The medical applications vary from gynaecology, paediatric, cardiology to typical infectious diseases for the region such as malaria and tuberculosis. The examinations will involve ultrasound examination, ECG test and blood test and blood test imaging for automation diagnosis. All the patient information, extracted from the examinations will be stored a health care database, along with the demographic information and medication prescription. The expected benefits will be improved support for medics in the field, reduction of patient referrals, reduction in number of emergency interventions and improved times for medical diagnosis. Importantly, the project has the full support of regional political and health authorities and, importantly, full local community support.