IT and Telemedicine - Healthcare crosses international borders
Don’t forget – Friday will be an important day for discussions on cross-border healthcare, travel medicine and growing liaisons with India, all subjects highlighted in special sessions at Medica Media.
Fred Balasama, Managing Director of German Health Services GmbH, has drawn in leading German-speaking experts to discuss Cross-border healthcare in Europe. Aspects of the treatment of patients abroad will be examined in a session co-moderated by Reinhold A Mainz, former coordinator for European and international topics in health telematics at the German Federal Ministry of Health.
Cross-border care is based on patients’ rights, which are more extensive for European Union citizens than those from non-EU countries. Dr Luigi Bertinato, Director of the International Health and Social Affairs Office, Veneto Region, Italy, will open the workshop with a statement on cross-border healthcare and patient rights.
In this electronic age, cross-border patient care also includes the use of information and communication technology. Relating to this, Professor Horst Kunhardt, of the University of Applied Sciences Deggendorf, will outline the test laboratory for cross-border applications in health telematics.
Dr Alexander von Smekal, of Ambicotec, Innsbruck, will discuss what is needed from telemedicine services providers for cross-border care.
From the public point of view, all future solutions must be patient-centred, so that doctors can make decisions based on the best level of information. Dr Christian Seebode, of German Healthcare Services, will talk about the opportunities presented by various solutions to optimise cross-border treatment.
Medicine across borders
Medical tourism has financial potentials that can be increased by addressing the customers – according to Heiko Musa, also of German Healthcare Services. The role of medical tourism in Germany will be examined by Jens Jusczzak, of the University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, and Leonore Boscher of the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE Hamburg) will present some concrete experiences.
The Bavarian Medical Tourism Cluster will be described by Bavarian Assistant Secretary Andreas Ellmeier.
Dr Robert Gerl will introduce the MBA degree course Medical Tourism & Cross-Border Healthcare Management offered by the University of Applied Sciences in Deggendorf.
Telemedicine in travel medicine
Dr Frank Ückert (University of Munster) will moderate a discussion forum on telemedicine and information systems for travel medicine.
How can e-health, telemedicine and IT systems deliver meaningful support? That’s a question to be addressed by Andreas Lanyi, Senior Manager International Business & Head of Telemedicine Department, Temos International, Cologne.
New internet services for travellers – the Travel Health Newsletter and Health Files on the Move -- will be introduced by Dieter Werner, Account Manager at the CRM Centre for Travel Medicine GmbH, Dusseldorf.
Liaisons with India
India is one of today’s most important growth markets and this will continue. Thus the importance of its indigenous healthcare market will also increase. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research supports an India Project within the Network of German Health Regions (NDGR)*. This will be introduced in workshops on Friday, when the network chairman Dr Josef Hilbert, Managing Director of the Institute of Work and Technology (IAT) at the University of Applied Sciences, Gelsenkirchen, explained: ‘As a network for the German healthcare regions we’d like to provide the German healthcare market and selected German hospitals with a presence in India that reflects the capabilities and innovation potential of this forward-thinking industry.’
This is not a solely about medical or medical-technological innovations, but also encompasses the concepts of care delivery, something considered one of Germany’s leading strengths internationally. The network aims to serve as a platform for a bridge with India; hospitals with an international outlook on, for example, advanced radiotherapy, or perhaps Ayurveda, are sure to make interesting contacts here.
Dr Walter Zöller, former Counsellor, Social and Labour Affairs, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, New Delhi/Berlin, will discuss the political dimension.
Representing the Indian market will be Monoj Kumar Chowdhury, CEO of Shiva Medicare Group, Berlin/India/Great Britain, and Luv Jasuja, Principal Consultant, Technopak, Gurgaon, Bangalore/Mumbai.
International and German companies will be represented by Andrea Fiumicelli, CEO of iSOFT Group Limited, Sydney, and Dr Amal K Mukhopadhyay, Director of ELGA Biotech, Hamburg/Delhi.
Dr Wolfgang Blank, Vice Chairman of the NDGR, will moderate a workshop on best practice examples from Indo-German partnerships. The presenters, all from German hospitals and research institutions, include: Professor Peter Berlit, Head of Neurology - Clinical Neurophysiology - Stroke Unit, Alfried Krupp Hospital, Essen (Germany), Stephan von Bandemer, researcher at the Institute of Work and Technology, Gelsenkirchen, Thomas Vallomtharayil, Managing Director, Ruhr Valley Medical Park, Bochum, Dr Uli Schmucker, Head of Traffic Crash Research at the University of Greifswald, Dr Ajay Rana, DALM-India Project Coordinator, Head of the Clinic for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery/Anaplasty, University of Greifswald.
* Further details: www.deutsche-gesundheitsregionen.de
Friday 20 November
Times and venues
Project India
Hall 15. Stand A12
10.30 am – 12.50 pm
Telemedicine discussion
Medica Media stage
12:10 – 1.50 pm
Cross border healthcare
Hall 15. Stand A12.
2 – 3 pm
19.11.2009
