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Introduction
Health problems in isolated
areas and islands continue to exist in the New Millennium and the Western
World as well as in the Mediterranean Area. Telemedicine proposes itself as
a chance to help solve these problems; it is not a panacea
but
can
undoubtedly offer benefits for physicians’ decision-making in remote areas.
If we search for words such as “Telemedicine”, “Telemedicine remote areas”,
“Rural Telemedicine” etc on Internet
search engines (Google for example), we get
lots of information and the same happens with the expression “Telemedicine
islands”. However, the application of Telemedicine in remote areas is still
difficult, due, first of all, to “human factors” and cultural background.
In 1997 two men
(see background) met by
chance in Tilos and started a pioneer project called TIMTEM. It seems hard
to believe that this “little” project is now included in the list of
“History of Telemedicine” on the Web
http://web.ktarn.or.jp/kurume-u-hp/telemed.html
This little “history” has faced a lot of troubles, fighting against
political, economical and cultural barriers; anyway, we can today affirm
that The telemedicine station in Livadia-Tilos is running on a new path
presenting itself as a “model” for other islands in the Mediterranean
Area. Our “little” history can be fully explored on Internet and we
would like to invite you to read about the next step of our website clicking
on “OUR BACKGROUND”. Last updating (July 2002) is a detailed synthesis of
all the work done so far.
Webmaster:
V. Paliktzoglou |
