The Telessaúde Brasil Redes program developed by the Ministry of Health of Brazil, has been praised by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) as a world leader in tele-technology, as it promotes and extends access to healthcare, especially in remote areas.
The system is an important ally in the national model for Basic Care and health ministers and officials from other countries are studying the tool’s performance indicators and implementation and monitoring methodologies.
Telessaúde Brasil Redes offers tele-consults and tele-diagnosis, provides second opinions from specialized professionals and makes it possible to provide tele-education thanks to the ICTs implemented at the Basic Health Units (UBS) and some leading institutions.
At the present time, 14 nuclei have been developed and 33 are in the implementation phase, located at training institutions – such as university hospitals – and administrative bodies. These nuclei are connected with over five thousand UBS points in 2.5 thousand municipalities.
According to PAHO/WHO, in areas such as the amazon region the technological solutions offered by Telessaúde can prevent the unnecessary transfer of patients to urban centers, reducing costs both for users of the Unique Health System (SUS) and the system itself.
The organization also noted that the Brazilian Ministry of Health has made major investments in human, financial and organizational resources at the SUS, whose experience is classified as being of a globally unique level of complexity.
Source: Ministério da Saúde
