Telemedicine event to tie with handover
Doctors and medical students at Chinese University of Hong Kong will be globetrotting with the sun in a live audiovisual link-up from Moscow to the Pacific, to herald the first day of Chinese rule in Hong Kong.
'Moving With the Sun' is the theme of the 24-hour Global Telemedicine Conference, which will start at Prince of Wales Hospital at 4 pm on June 30.
'It will be the first telemedicine conference to make a full sweep of the globe,' said Professor Magnus Hjelm, chairman of the university's Department of Chemical Pathology.
'The timing of the conference will better promote telemedicine in Hong Kong as well as share the historic moment of the handover with medical communities overseas.
'We received very enthusiastic response from around the world to the idea of combining the two events,' he said.
About 15 medical institutions in Europe, North America, South America, Australia and Asia, as well as at least three in China, are expected to take part.
'The conference will start and finish with communication with the People's Liberation Army General Hospital in Beijing, which will have a link with Hong Kong throughout the event,' Professor Hjelm said.
'We will hook up to each international site for about 60 to 90 minutes and keep changing links as the sun rises on individual sites,' he said.
In addition to sharing the latest research and development in telemedicine, participants have been asked to introduce their institutions in live broadcasts to Hong Kong.
'This could include interviews with local health officials, showing physicians making rounds in hospitals, comments from patients who have experienced clinical service via this technology and local scenic attractions,' the professor said.
It would also include informal discussions of aspects of professional and academic life, he said.
Prince of Wales Hospital will introduce telemedicine in Hong Kong and beam live broadcasts from Victoria Harbour, the Peak and the Chinese University's campus in co-operation with commercial TV stations.
'The event will be our contribution to brighten up the handover day,' Professor Hjelm said.
The use of telemedicine technology for education and providing distance medical care and consultation at the university has become more systematic since it held its first international conference in November.
Professor Hjelm said the telemedicine unit was being used more regularly for treatment.
One recent case involved consultation with a paediatric hospital in London over a 13-year-old patient who was suffering from a worsening deformation of his spinal cord.
'The second opinion we received from London during 45 minutes of live consultation saved the patient time and huge sums of money,' he said.
