The Ministry of Health, in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), plans to support the institutional framework for the development and improvement of telemedicine in Montenegro, through the project Strengthening the Health Care System in Montenegro.
This was announced during a meeting of representatives of the Ministry of Health, institutions of the health system and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
The Ministry explained that simple and quick access to healthcare institutions and services for the citizens of Montenegro requires the development of digital platforms that will make the process easier for patients.
"In addition, these platforms will serve to collect data and analyzes that can contribute to successful treatment and influence changes in the behavior of the patients themselves," they added.
They emphasized that telemedicine represents the provision of medical care and health services to patients who are unable to physically visit health facilities, either due to geographic distance, mobility restrictions or other obstacles.
"In such situations, the use of information and communication technologies by all healthcare workers for the exchange of valid information is of great importance for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of patients," they explained.
They emphasized that the assessment of capacity for the development and use of the digital platform for telemedicine and the mHealth platform in Montenegro is one of the project tasks of the Ministry of Health and UNDP.
"The assessment of the regulatory and institutional framework, as well as the analysis of IT infrastructure and the needs of medical staff, as well as patients, will indicate the conditions and potential for the development of telemedicine and mobile health. The recommendations of this research will provide guidelines for the development of a platform that should include a wide range of applications and services that are based on the use of mobile technology to improve healthcare delivery, access to medical information and overall health management.In recent years, and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, the mHealth service has attracted considerable attention and interest due to the potential that mobile devices have when there is talk of a revolution in the healthcare industry," they said.
As they stated, the director general of the Directorate for Digital Health in the Ministry of Health, Aleksandar Sekulić, emphasized the importance of introducing new technologies in the field of medicine, but also pointed out that building human capacity in telemedicine is as important as the technology itself, and that attention should also be paid to those who will manage the processes - experts who will use this system.
"The leader of the team for management and responsible institutions at UNDP, Ivan Bošković, highlighted the partnership between the Ministry of Health and UNDP as an example of quality cooperation in the field of digitization of the health care system that shows significant results. He added that digital trends such as telemedicine and mobile health will shorten the time, reduce costs and increase the efficiency of the work of the medical staff, contributing at the same time to the relief of the system and easier monitoring of the health status of the population," it added.
The project manager at UNDP, Boris Rebić, pointed out that attention should also be paid to assessing the state of the digital skills of the medical staff, as well as the patients themselves, and to give the opportunity, as he stated, of continuous improvement in this area, so that telemedicine takes root in practice, and brought the healthcare system even closer to the patient.
"Head of the Directorate for Digital Innovations and Policies in the Ministry of Health, Marijan Marijanović, pointed out that special attention should be paid to the needs, preferences and circumstances of vulnerable or hard-to-reach groups, including people with low or no digital literacy, people with limited control or access to digital devices, people who speak minority languages, migrant populations in new environments and people with disabilities," the announcement reads.
The Ministry clarified that today's meeting brought together relevant actors in the health system, and the specific proposals that were discussed will become part, as you said, of the project task as the basis of telemedicine, that is, the continuation of the digital transformation of the health system in Montenegro, and the further design of interventions that are primarily aimed at citizens.
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