Experts from around the country gathered at the Telediagnosis and Telemedicine Seminary, held on October 5, at Ministry of Health in Brasília. The goal was to share experiences and increase knowledge of the current services offered in the country. The Brazilian National Research and Educational Network (RNP) was represented by Deputy Director of Solutions Management, Antônio Carlos F. Nunes, who attended the opening session of the meeting. 

Ricardo Barros – Minister of Health, opened the seminar, emphasizing the telehealth investment importance. According to him, the ministry challenge is to optimize the service to population, connected to professionals of Primary are and experts related to reputable institutions. “We want to gather experience, assessing them and implementing the best examples in national level. The knowledge expansion on telehealth services available in the country will allows us to improve the quality of Integrated Health System (SUS, in Portuguese). 150 million Brazilian citizen depend exclusively of SUS, waiting for our solutions”, he said. The minister also stated that the Health resources should be maintained, that is, the costs amount will not be changed.

The deputy director of RNP stressed that the cooperation between the organization and the ministry, since 2009, jointly to Health Education and Work Management Department (SGTES, in Portuguese), encouraging the implementation and qualification of Brazil Telehealth Cores. “This partnership offers network infrastructure with services and solutions of communication and cooperation, specific innovation for use of existing interest groups. The purpose is to leverage the teleconsulting, telediagnosis and tele-education use, as well as its integration with Telemedicine University Network”, said Nunes.

Then, the coordinator of Brazilian Network of Telehealth National Program of SGTES, Thaís Matos, presented the program, stressing the RNP’s participation as important partner in the supply of necessary infrastructure, services and solutions for the promotion of public policies.

The event was attended by telehealth state core representatives, of hospitals acting in the area – Albert Einsten, Sírio Libanês, Hospital Alemão Oswaldo Cruz (HAOC), Hospital Moinhos de Ventos, Hospital do Coração (Hcor); of Brazilian National Council of Health Secretaries (Connas); and of Brazilian National Council of Local Health Secretaries (Conasems), among other public and private institutions experienced in the area.

About telehealth and numbers in Brazil

Telehealth, which encompasses telemedicine, telediagnosis and tele-education, is composed by a set of technological tools and work processes promoting great efficiency in service to population. Through these tools, health professionals can consult experts and remotely access test reports, avoiding the need, for example, to refer patients to other health facilities.

From the beginning of 2008 to August 2016, 3,441,011 telediagnosis, 2,981,853 participations in tele-educational activities and 481,011 teleconsulting were carried out. From this amount, only this year 580,868, 566,371 and 110,944, respectively, were carried out. There is also teleconsultation supply through the free telephone service for physicians and nurses of Primary Care throughout the country to cover the states that do not have telehealth cores.