Telemedical support for surgeons in Ecuador

Resumen

The national government is also responsible for 41% of total health spending, of which about 15% is from social security funds, the rest coming from the Ministerio de Salud Publica, the public health ministry. The original intention of the mobile surgery programme of the Cinterandes Foundation was to use Ecuadorian and international volunteers to provide intermittent surgical services to under-served populations. A surgery project for the isolated and under-served in Ecuador has matured into a fixed element of service delivery. Telemedicine was first applied to support the surgery programme in 1995. The procedure for telemedicine to support mobile surgery begins with patient registration and the creation of an electronic health record. Telemedicine has made the mobile surgery programme more efficient, and therefore available to more patients. The interactions with consultants outside Ecuador have matured into sound professional friendships.