Multispecialist Teleconsultation

Abstract

The Global Health Telemedicine (GHT) platform was set up by GHT and BS Innova and started in 2008 with a telecardiology service between the San Giovanni Hospital in Rome and the DREAM healthcare centre in Arusha, in Tanzania. Since then the service has grown exponentially, and today it supports 29 African healthcare centres and over 120 specialist doctors of 18 different specialities. The platform makes it possible to manage thousands of teleconsultations and quickly puts doctors from the northern part of the world and those in the south in touch with each other. This service is expanding rapidly and there are requests to open new centres every month. It is a new way to consider healthcare cooperation, with a high impact and low costs. Remote healthcare has become a reality. The platform is modular and makes it possible to define specific routes, sending requests for teleconsultations to certain doctors depending on the local needs. It is a platform that was designed for Africa but is starting to be used in Europe and in other continents too. The model can be replicated in many other contexts and not only for developing countries.