To formalize their participation in the Telemedicine University Network (Rute), the Faculty of Medicine of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) inaugurated today, 14th of December, its telemedicine unit on the Technology Center for Global Health (Cetes) of the institution.

At the inauguration ceremony, were present the UFMG vice-rector, Sandra Goulart; the director of the Faculty of Medicine, Tarcizo Afonso Nune; the vice-director of the institution, Humberto José Alves; the general coordinator of Cetes, Claudio de Souza; the national coordinator of Rute, Luiz Ary Messina (photo), and representatives of the Municipality of Belo Horizonte.

"The integration of UFMG at the network will enhance the role of the institution production, dissemination and use of social science research," said Sandra. According to Humberto, the inauguration is a new collaborative work phase and joint efforts by telehealth. For Messina, the telemedicine room enhances college participation in the development of the area. "By joining the network, the institution will further contribute in the expansion of health and qualification of professionals in the country", told.

With the tools and content developed by Rute and telehealth work of the Cetes since 2004, as in the Simulation Laboratory (LabSim) and the Unit of Informatics in Health, the faculty wants to achieve up to 20% of the workload of their courses for virtual environment. "At this way, the students will have experiences like watching surgery via internet as it does today in transmissions made by the network to resident students", explained Messina.

For Claudio, the Special Interest Groups (SIGs), discussions of clinical cases and distance learning by web conferences of Rute allow the expansion of knowledge of medical professionals and other institutions. "Teachers and students can participate more effectively and seamlessly with other Brazilian institutions by the SIGs for educational activities or development of collaborative research among participants", said the planning advisor and Cetes management, Monica Pena. The center coordinates and monitors the activities in telehealth points divided into regional centers such as the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, composed of 14 municipalities: Belo Horizonte, Betim, Esmeraldas, Ibirité, Itabirito, Igarapé, Juatuba, Jaboticatubas, Lagoa Santa, Ribeirão das Neves, Sabara, Santa Luzia, Sarzedo and Vespasian.

The ceremony was broadcast by video link to other members of Rute, present in different states of Brazil. Among the participants was the Rector of the State University of Amazonas, Cleinaldo Costa, who is also a medical school professor at the institution and specialist in telehealth. He pointed out the actions carried out in the distance across the state, including the riverside towns of the Amazon.

With the new unit, Rute totals 120 telemedicine units in operation in all states of Brazil. Among other objectives, the network integrates and connects all public university hospitals and teaching certificates, supports videoconferencing, diagnostic analysis, second opinion, including training, and lifelong learning, and web conferencing, between university hospitals and universities by RNP, and allows integration with state and local health departments, basic health units and inside the hospitals.

The network is integrated into the Telehealth Brazil Networks Programme, an initiative of the Ministry of Health that seeks to improve the quality of care and primary care and specialized in the Unified Health System (in portuguese, SUS), integrating teaching and service through information technology (IT ) to promote Telecare and Tele-education, collaborative research, management, monitoring, monitoring and evaluation.