The Ucayali region of Peru is one the poorest regions of the country, and many communities are isolated from the world. The only means of communication is by radio and most small communities do not have access to basic specialty medical care. In the town of Atalaya, only basic medical emergencies can be treated. For all other medical needs, patients have to be flown to Pucallpa, some 400 km away. Establishing telemedicine programs that will connect main hospitals in Pucallpa with Atalaya hospital will greatly benefit the region and its 23 villages scattered along the Ucayali River. Most of these villages lack basic elements of modernization such as electricity and telephone lines.
Drs. Latifi and de Leonni Stanonik introduced the telemedicine concept to hospital leadership at the Hospital Regional de Ucayali (government hospital) during a meeting with Director of the Hospital, Dr. Angel Gutierrez Rodriguez, and the leadership at the Atalaya hospital, in Atalaya. Both demonstrated great interest in telemedicine services as a potential tool for improving health care services in the region.
During the visit to the Atalaya Hospital, they introduced the same concept of telemedicine and its potential benefits to the president of the Region Dr. Jorge Velasquez Portocarrero, who expressed great enthusiasm in establishing a Telemedicine program for the entire Ucayali Region. The President and his newly elected government see telemedicine as having great potential for improving healthcare in the region. The presentation of telemedicine to the President was carried out in the presence of the media during the Amazon Expedition fastival, one day before the start of the Martin Strel’s swim down the Ucayali River.
Both the leadership of the Hospitals in Atalaya and Pucallpa, and the leadership of new government of the Ucayali region embraced the telemedicine concept and promised to give it their full political and moral support. The AVMT leadership will put together a program proposal in collaboration with local hospital leadership that will have two major components: implementation of medical consultations and education/training programs for health care providers. One of the top priorities of this new Regional Government is improvement of health care.
