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DPH, PSS set to sign MOU on telehealth/telemedicine
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Posted on Oct 05 2000
The Department of Public Health and the Public School System are set to sign a Memorandum of Understanding which will allow health officials to use the facilities of PSS in its telehealth/telemedicine programs.
DPH Secretary Joseph Kevin Villagomez said the department will be able to avail of the discounted education rates that will help improve the videoconferencing capability of the medical staff.
Mr. Villagomez noted that this will also help in the continuing education of nurses and other medical staff through distance learning thus avoiding the expenses in sending them off-island.
The Health Resources and Services Administration through the U.S. Department of Health is willing to fund the pilot project on telemedicine/telehealth programs.
Mr. Villagomez said details of the cooperation with PSS and the Pacific Resources for Education and Learning will be discussed with PSS Commissioner Rita Inos.
“We hope to maximize the use of resources currently available by developing an MOU between DPH and PSS for the use of their facilities. There will be local commitment to the project and not solely federal funding,” he said.
DPH has adopted the concept of telemedicine in a move to improve the delivery of health care system as well as provide continuous training to medical staff in the CNMI.
Telemedicine is a technology innovation in which two health facilities communicate using state-of-the-art audio and visual equipment.
The Commonwealth Health Center has now links with Hawaii-based Tripler Army Medical Center and the Queens Medical Center using the telemedicine technology. Equipment such as digital camera, video camera and scanner have been installed at the office of the medical referral program.
With limited funds, the department hopes to save a lot of money using this technology since a patient’s case is thoroughly examined by doctors from both hospitals first before they are sent off-island for treatment.
In the telemedicine technology, the medical staff on island can communicate with Tripler’s doctors headed by Dr. Donald Person who is the chief of the hospital’s Pacific Island Health Care Program. (Lindablue F. Romero)
