Ship&Offshore | Issue 05/2013
Telemedicine on board
HEALTH CARE Access to health care has always been critical for ship crews. If it is insufficient, evacuation may be necessary, possibly resulting in a change of route for emergency port calls and costly vessel downtime. Satellite communication nowadays provides rapid access to remote medical expertise. Patient information, particularly vital signs, can be sent electronically in the form of images, video, sound, text and medical device data to a telemedicine competence centre for processing and, if necessary, distribution to a network of medical experts. State-of-the-art telemedical solutions with videoconferencing options can help preserve health, save lives and spare costs, writes our maritime IT and communications correspondent Julie Ann Chan.