The Asia Pacific Telecommunitys telemedicine activities

I. NAKAJIMA 1), U. SASTROKUSUMO 2), S.K. MISHRA 3), R. KOMIYA 4), A. Z. MALIK 5), T. TANUMA 6)

1) Tokai University, Japan 2) Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia

3) Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, India 4) Multimedia University, Malaysia 5) Holy Family Hospital, Pakistan

6) Asia Pacific Telecommunity, Thailand

Abstract The Asia Pacific Telecommunity(APT) has supported telemedicine activities in Asia Pacific region, especially to promote telemedicine workshop on "the Human Resource Development(HRD) Programmes to Exchange ICT Researchers and Engineers which have been funded by a special contribution from the Japanese Government. Under the umbrella of the APT-HRD, we have conducted telemedicine workshop from FY-2002 to FY-2005. This paper is reporting its activities and policy in the era of Ubiquitous society. The objectives of the workshop are to bring research teams, governments sectors, private practitioners and other stakeholders in the region to discuss the different applications of telecommunication and information technology in the health care sector including medical ambulance communication with high data speed and other mobile telemedicine solutions.

1. Purpose

Here, we intend to report the Asia Pacific Telecommunity(APT) telemedical activities in the past 5 years and to analysis its policy and future trends in this field. 2. Background In its early manifestations, African villagers used smoke signals to warn people to stay away from the village in case of serious disease. In the early 1900s,

people living in remote areas in Australia used two-way radios, powered by a dynamo driven by a set of bicycle pedals, to communicate with the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia. This was the opening of the times of telemedicine. The term Telemedicine has came from tele- that means Greek word Far and medicine, the delivery of medical care and/or health care(also called eHealth, telehealth) at a long distance. International teleconsultation( sometimes called second opinion) may be as simple as two health professionals discussing a case over the telephone, or as complex as using satellite technology and video-conferencing equipment to conduct a realtime consultation between medical specialists in two different nations. Telemedicine generally refers to the use of communications and information technologies for the delivery of medical knowledges, while needs its specialist to perform telemedicine smoothly. The importance of training and human resource development in telemedicine was stressed during the last APT Conference, where a specific programme focusing on human capacity building was approved (the details were described in the next paragraph). Bearing in mind such history, the APT has started to develop a Human Resorce Development on this field in 2002.

3. Policy and APT HRD programme 3.1. Policy The objectives of the workshop are to bring research teams, governments sectors, private practitioners and other stakeholders in the region to discuss the different applications of

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telecommunication and information technology in the health care sector including medical ambulance communication with high data speed and other mobile telemedicine solutions. 3.2. APT HRD Programme A. Training Training Courses are mainly composed of lectures and hands on activities. APT training courses are usually making use of the facilities and resources offered by APT Member countries and the topics are selected based on the requests from the APT Members and the latest development in the industry sector. The trainees are selected from nominations from APT Member countries. In 2004, APT implemented 30 training courses in Telecommunications and ICT fields. B. Study Visits Study visits are mainly composed of technical visits to the facilities in the APT Member countries. The topics or fields of the study visits are also selected based on the requests from the APT Members and the latest development and demands in the sector. In 2004, APT implemented 9 study visits. C. Seminars/Symposia Workshops, Seminars and Symposia are held with the view to capacity building of the developing members in ICT and other areas. Topics are selected based on the requests from the APT Members and the needs of the host countries. The following are the events that were held during 2004 & 2005 and events scheduled to be held in 2006 D. Expert Missions Under the Expert Missions specialists and experts in the relevant fields will assist Member countries in solving specific problems and issues. The specialists and experts are selected from the APT Member on a competitive basis. APT has conducted 9 Expert Missions since 2003. E. HRD Programme for Exchange of ICT Researchers and Engineers This programme is to enhance Research and

Development (R&D) activities in the field of advance ICT through supporting face-to-face interaction and exchange of new ideas and technical know-how among researchers and engineers in the APT Member Countries with the support of researchers from Japan . Financial supports have been provided yearly to the selected research/project proposals from the APT Member countries. The details are available here. 4. Telemedicine workshop activities Since 2002 the APT has supported telemedicine activities in Asia Pacific region, especially to promote telemedicine workshop on "the Human Resource Development(HRD) Programmes to Exchange ICT Researchers and Engineers which have been funded by a special contribution from the Japanese Government. The first workshop was held in Jakarta, the second in New Delhi and the third in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the last workshop was jointly hosted by Holy Family Hospital, Pakistan. From India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and other countries, researchers will submitte papers and reports. Telemedicine experts from the Asia-Pacific region attended this workshop and they approved proposals regarding telemedicine-related technologies and global standardization to ITU. This joint style workshop between developing and developed nations might be a very effective opportunity and place to exchange knowledge, technology and information between countries. The mobile eHealth initiative was discussed there, it is the use of applications combining mobile communications and telemedicine, in cooperation with relevant groups of the IEEE Healthcom, APT and ITU. Those three groups want to continue these relations in future. The 5th APT-HRD Workshop on Telemedicine is planned to be held in January 2007, Thailand.

1st APT-HRD Telemedicine Workshop (October 2002, Jakarta, Indonesia) 2nd APT-HRD Telemedicine Workshop (Febrary 2004, New Delhi, India) 3rd APT-HRD Telemedicine Workshop (January 2005, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) 4th APT-HRD Telemedicine Workshop (January 2006, Rawalpindi, Pakistan) 5th APT-HRD Telemedicine Workshop ( expected January 2007, Thailand)

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The 3rd APT-HRD Telemedicine Workshop 2005 Kuala Lumpur

5. Considerations

Workshops are held with the view to capacity building of the developing members in ICT areas. Topics of telemedicine and eHealth are selected based on the requests from the APT Members and the needs of the host countries. We believe that this workshop shall be fully conducted by APT itself as one of the SG(Study Group) or WG(Working Group) of APT to support telemedical activities in developing nations that suffering from severe digital divide.

6. References

01.I. Nakajima, w-health project of APT-HRD, http://www.aptsec.org/Program/ICT/WebHRDICT/Batch-4/4-6-W-Health.ppt 02. I Nakajima, APT second opinion center http://www.itu.int/itudoc/itu-t/workshop/e-health/s1-02_pp7.ppt

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