Telemedicine technology will soon become part of Guam's medical landscape as the Guam Memorial Hospital gets ready for the installation of equipment that will connect long-distance points of care to points of need.
Who says no good things are happening at GMH?
The advanced medical system, which will be available at GMH in 30 days, will entail no cost to the hospital.
The total cost of equipment, installation, system training and bandwidth Internet service will be shouldered by the Guam Healthcare and Hospital Development Foundation, Guam Radiology Consultants (GRC), and TeleGuam.
"The hospital will not spend a cent to make this technology available. We're very happy to make this donation to GMH. It will impact the lives of our people in the community," healthcare foundation president Peter Sgro told a press conference.
"We recognize that that this is our only civilian hospital and it really needs the support of the community," Sgro said.
Sgro said the donation was inspired by the success of the pilot test of the telemedicine system at the GRC clinic, where a girl suffering from a kidney problem was examined long-distance by a Cedars-Sinai doctor in California last week.
Dr. Nathaniel Berg, GRC's owner and chief radiologist, said the "overwhelming community reaction" to the successful telemedicine procedure at his clinic sent a signal for the medical community to "take another step forward."
"Things all come together just at the right time," said Berg, who hired Ed Baligaya, a telemedicine technology expert from the Philippines, to help run the system on Guam.
Telemedicine is a combination of advances in medical technologies.
Berg explained that telemedicine requires a dedicated computer system, a high-speed reliable Internet line, high-grade monitor, and specialized software. It also requires a specialized program that ensures protected online transmission of medical data to prevent unauthorized access to the transmitted information.
Guam has partnered with the California-based Cedars-Sinai Hospital to establish telemedicine on Guam, but Sgro said GMH may eventually link up with other hospitals, including those in foreign countries.
Once installed and running, the telemedicine system at GMH can break "medical borders," Sgro said.
"We're extremely pleased to be part of this effort to make this state-of-the-art technology available to our people. This will be another opportunity for us to improve the services that we are able to provide to our community," said GMH administrator PeterJohn Camacho.
He expressed confidence that GMH "will be prepared" for the new technology.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Quelle/Source: Marianas Variety, 14.03.2008
