KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Government has embarked on a Telemedicine pilot project for people in remote areas of the island to access medical specialists at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), in conjunction with a major telecommunications provider.

The pilot is being done under the Telemedicine Proof of Concept (POC) project with Cable and Wireless Jamaica, with the aim of reducing the time to deliver patient care, by linking them, via teleconferencing/video conferencing, with specialist physicians and clinicians from health centres and certain hospitals, through mobile devices.

Minister of Health, Dr Christopher Tufton, who launched the project on October 10 at the Kitson Town Health Centre in St Catherine, said the May Pen Hospital in Clarendon will also be part of the trial period for the new system.

“We have to find a way to reach patients, wherever they are, utilising technology, in order to deliver service,” the minister said, adding that the extent to which the telemedicine method works “is the extent to which we will roll it out across Jamaica”.

“It is difficult for someone who has a chronic ailment or an emergency to travel long distances to get attention, and it is risky,” the minister said, noting that the system will help in saving time and money.

For his part, Medical Chief of Staff at the UHWI Dr Carl Bruce, said the development is “very significant” and that the Ministry has purchased equipment to enable specialist doctors, such as kidney specialists, cardiologists, and ear and throat physicians, to reach patients, using the broadband of the telecoms provider.