Saving the rural patients in Venezuela

PUBLIC HEALTH - SCIENCES & NEW TECHNOLOGIES

by THE OLBIOS TEAM

Tomas Sanabria and the power of communications technology

THE OLBIOS TEAM

Tomas Sanabria, a cardiologist that works in remote areas of Venezuela, started the Maniapure project to leverage the power of communications technology for rural patients. Through wireless technologies, rural clinics can connect with specialists in Caracas and other major cities for consultation. More concretely, the rural medical team uses satellite internet and an in-house developed telemedicine platform to make consultations to a network of specialists, located in city hospitals, who provide their expert advice.

After reviewing the telemedicine case, the specialist sends feedback to the rural team, tailored to their current available resources to better fit the needs of patients in the isolated areas that they serve. The local team then decides if the patient can be treated on-site, or if he/her needs to be taken to a hospital.

Finally, the rural medical team analyzes the feedback sent by the specialist in the city, and if possible, they proceed to apply treatment to the patient in order to treat the disease at hand without the costly need of transference to a Hospital in the city. As a result, nearly 95% of the patients are treated effectively by local health technicians and do not need to travel to a hospital for special treatment.