A session this afternoon, 09/01, during the program of TICAL2020, marked the concretization of an idea, which has been discussed among representatives of the academic networks in Latin America for years: the expansion of the University Tele-medicine Network (RUTE) to the Latin-American continent. RNP, Red Nacional Académica de Tecnología Avanzada (Renata- Colombia), Red Nacional de Investigación y Educación Ecuatoriana (Cedia-Ecuador), Corporación Universitaria para el Desarrollo de Internet (Cudi-Mexico) and Red Universitaria Nacional (Reuna-Chile) signed an agreement proposed by RNP and prepared by RedCLARA for creation of the University Tele-Medicine Network of Latin America (RUTE-AL).

The objective of the initiative is to expand and strengthen the scientific and educational cooperation in health in Latin America by means of implementation of collaborative activities that support development of a regional tele-health network based on the RUTE experience in Brazil.

“More than 14 years in Brazil, RUTE is coordinated and driven by RNP and the objective of the agreement is to extend the network activities to Latin America. Truth is that his very much aligned with the discussion today at TICAL about the importance of health and what the other national networks do to cooperate in this scope. This is a contribution agreement to relate the actions. We are very happy for signing this agreement during the event and we hope that this network will enter in operation quickly, generating the same benefits it generates in Brazil”, the executive director of RedCLARA Luis Eliécer Cadenas affirmed.

The national RUTE coordinator Luiz Ary Messina pointed out the  importance of the change in the perspective about tele-medicine and tele-health, which was changed quickly, mainly because of the needs before the new coronavirus pandemic and which assures higher force and importance for the new collaborative network.

“Now, the whole society perceives the values of the tele-medicine and tele-health practice. Some years ago, it was very difficult to talk about that with many physicians, authorities, because they did not perceive the value. It is different now. Everyone has seen that these activities can help a lot for the patients to be assisted at their homes, patients with chronic diseases not to have to visit to the hospitals, these are very practical facilities, provided that there is good connectivity. Upon the progress of Artificial Intelligence, IoT, Big Data, etc., we can just expect that connectivity will be increasingly more important. A research shows that 10% progress in connectivity in Latin America will increase the GDP of each country by 3 to 4%. Now it is a little easier. People are more used to web conference, but it will be huge efforts by all academic networks to obtain comprehension from the governments, the academy, the managers and the companies to make a safe path together with all important players. We will have the fundamental, namely, the thinking heads of all public and private universities. Thank you, RedCLARA, for the comprehension of this important activity, which will not be easy. Thanks to the academic networks in Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador for this moment”, Messina declared.

In addition to the national RUTE coordinator, Juan Pablo Carvallo (Cedia), Rafael Rodríguez (Renata), Carlos Casasús (Cudi), Paola Arellano (Reuna) and Luis Eliécer Cadenas (RedCLARA) took part in the signature of the agreement for creation of RUTE-AL.

Learn more about RUTE-AL