Bulletin Spring‧Summer 1999

Plan of the virtual hospital and the most extensive telemedicine network in the world typical Hong Kong fashion, it has caught up and is now on the leading edge of telemedicine/ said Prof. Hjelm. The system w i l l be officially inaugurated i n mid-1999. Cost and Efficacy In video links with overseas the cost is six times the I DD charge and connection with local venues is six times the charge of a local call 一 six because six lines give the minimum bandwidth fo r reasonably acceptable performance. Yet it is not as expensive as it seems, as Prof. Hjelm explained. Take ' Mov i ng w i th the Sun ’97’ for instance. F l y i ng a thousand experts to Hong Kong, arranging accommodations for them, not to mention food and transport, woul d have cost far more than i t did. Similarly case conferences save a lot o f time, costs, and t r o u b l e t h a t a d i r e c t consu l t a t i on i n v o l v i ng longdistance travel and the transport of patients unfi t for travel would entail. Yet how reliable is telemedicine? There is no hard e v i den c e i t is, according to Prof. Hjelm. 'It's a big d i f f e r ence f r om Staff in geriatic care at Shatin Hospital communicating with a nurse and her charge at the home for the elderly Medical Teaching and Research at CUHK 9