The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) participated in the "Exchange day on telemedicine services in Uruguay: the momentum in the pandemic and the challenges for the implementation of a national plan", organized by the government of Uruguay.
The objective of this exchange day was to work on the strengths and weaknesses of the telemedicine strategy within the National Integrated Health System (SNIS) of Uruguay. In this way, the workshop included the presentation of various studies that analyzed the use of digital technologies in health.
Among the studies presented, one stands out on the level of maturity of the SNIS in the implementation of telemedicine services, which was carried out by the Electronic Government and Information and Knowledge Society Agency (AGESIC); as well as a study that analyzed the health context during the pandemic.
However, one of the most important findings that were presented during the event were the results of the first national census on telemedicine in Uruguay. The census included the opinions and evaluations of users, health professionals and managers of telemedicine in the country. Its objective was to know the level of maturity of service providers specifically during the pandemic; implement good practices; and carry out systematizations on the evaluation of technology in health.
In this way, PAHO provided the Uruguayan government with a series of recommendations on the incorporation of health technology, the use and exploitation of data, medical specialties within telemedicine services, remote consultations, and desirable characteristics, among others.
In addition to PAHO, the conference was attended by specialists from AGESIC, from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of the Republic. In this way, the exchanges generated also fulfill the purpose of generating more data for the creation of a national telehealth plan in the near future.
