It was an eye opener, the article on inexpensive telemedicine applications for South America.
It seems that anything that has to do with medicine has to be extremely expensive. Well, that is not necessarily true. Here is a press release we just received, from GAVEnterprise Telehealth, a Florida based firm. According to Dr. Luis Gaviria, president of the firm, there is much to be done in the field. "When we started working on this project, we did not think profits primarily. See, it's easy to get lost while in the business arena. Doctors are here to heal, to help, to offer support. We know that we can serve an otherwise neglected population, still make some dollars, but mainly offer simple, yet powerful ways to better the medical attention in third world areas. Our real goal is to transform lives. That takes some sacrifice too" says Dr. Gaviria, a stress medicine specialist, who also flies medical missions to forgotten areas in South American jungles.
To learn more about all this, here is the main website: www.GAVEnterprise.com and also www.telehealth.gaventerprise.net
This is the article that caught our eye:
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"Low Cost Telemedicine Application to be Deployed in South America |
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NewswireToday - /newswire/ - Pembroke Pines, FL, United States, 12/28/2006 - DICOR, a low cost diagnostic image collaborative review application will help doctors in early diagnosing of acute myocardial infarction in rural areas, starting in Colombia, South America. |
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A very promising Internet / Desktop application named DICOR (Diagnostic Image Collaborative Review), has been facilitating the doctors work, and saving lives.
By providing EKG, and X-Ray images of patients being helped in rural and remote sites around the country, main city based specialists can now arrive to earlier and more accurate diagnostics in different illnesses. Doctors can view images and comment at the same time, using a plain web browser. Doctor Nicolas Jaramillo, a renown cardiologist at Las Americas Hospital in Colombia, said that this approach will save lives, making specialized medical services available to otherwise poorly covered communities.
The first two hours after the onset of an acute coronary event are crucial. Many patients die in the world every year due to misdiagnosis. Some of them die while under observation. The only real difference in choosing the right medical conduct could be the chance to see an actual EKG stripe. Otherwise, the symptoms of an acute myocardial infarction can be mistaken for a digestive reflux or pain in the stomach area. Hiatal hernias and some severe cases of gastritis produce similar symptoms. Some patients mistake the pain, get nervous and start hiperventilating. The condition looks like a heart attack to the uneducated eyes.
We had the chance to see the software in action and were amazed with the results, while visiting Las Americas Hospital, an elegant facility that incidentally receives international patients. A call for help was received from a young doctor, from a small clinic in the countryside, 1 1/2 hours away from Medellin city.
The cardiologist on duty requested the EKG reading, as the rest of the symptoms. A decision was made in a matter of minutes. The patient was transported promptly, taken to a high end health facility and another life was saved.
We doctors knwo that an image can make a great difference in making decisions, specially in life or death situations."
George Oppenheimer, MD
goppeheimer(.)publimedic.com
Some interesting news in medicine:
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