The Biobío Regional Center for Telemedicine and Telehealth joined the Concepción Health Service initiative to improve health care services on Santa María Island.
The Island of Santa María belongs to the Biobío region, specifically to the province of Concepción. Recently, unfortunate events occurred that have affected the health of its inhabitants on the island due to the lack of timely medical care. Due to its geographical context, emergency services on the island are very limited. The island is located opposite the province of Arauco and is 29 kilometers from the ports of the Commune of Coronel (to which it belongs) and Lota.
Recently, the Concepción Health Service (SSC) formed an alliance between various institutions in the region to offer remote health services. The SSC seeks that the implementation of telemedicine in remote areas allows timely care in cases of medical emergency, as is the case of Santa María Island.
The Catholic University of the Santísima Concepción (UCSC), the University of Concepción (UdeC) and the Regional Government are part of this initiative and now the Biobío Regional Center for Telemedicine and Telehealth (CRT) has joined.
Dr. Jaime Tapia, deputy director of health care at SSC explained that "the objective of this project is to provide equal opportunities in health to the inhabitants of the island, for which a trip to the island territory is planned to meet the needs of the families and implement a telehealth system for the island.”
For her part, the municipal health director of Coronel, Melissa Cifuentes, explained that it is hopeful to have innovative alternatives that facilitate medical care for the inhabitants of Santa María Island. “We hope to provide concrete solutions and through telemedicine make a big difference. We want to bring the care we have on the mainland closer and help the islanders as much as possible,” he added.
On the other hand, one of the leading specialists in telehealth in Chile, Dr. Angelica Avendaño, director of the Biobío CRT belonging to the Telemedicine Unit of the UdeC, of which she is also in charge, explained that this initiative is an opportunity to strengthen the capacities that are already installed, and tackle problem solving jointly.
