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Over the past decade, war and economic upheaval have left the Balkan countries struggling to provide adequate health care to its citizens.
Rifat Latifi, MD, professor and interim chief of trauma and critical care in The University of Arizona Department of Surgery, received $850,000 from the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) to implement a two-year program using telemedicine and advanced technologies to improve the delivery of health care in the Balkans. Starting today, 10 physicians and engineers from the Balkans are spending the next three weeks at The UA College of Medicine as part of the project "Improving Health Care in the Balkans Using Telemedicine, Advanced Technologies and Cultural Exchange Program as a Platform." This is the second of three groups that will receive training on telemedicine technology at the UA. The goal of the program is to create the medical and technical leadership to significantly enhance health care access and quality in the region, says Dr. Latifi. "This program will create a powerful international medical education network in the Balkans for further collaboration and development," he says. |
A total of 48 physicians, nurses and engineers from Kosova, Montenegro, Macedonia and Albania will travel to the United States for training in telemedicine, e-health, electronic library management, trauma and surgical critical care at The University of Arizona and Anchorage, Alaska. A group of 16 U.S. experts in these same medical disciplines will conduct workshops, seminars and other cultural and educational activities in the Balkan region.
In addition to the educational programs, the project has expanded the existing infrastructure for telemedicine and a virtual medical educational network of the Telemedicine Center of Kosova to six regional hospitals in Kosova. This network will include telemedicine units enabling live and direct medical consultations from regional hospital emergency rooms, as well as storing and forwarding telemedicine consultations. Each regional hospital has been equipped with 10 computers for electronic medical library access with more than 1,200 full-text medical journals available.
Dr. Latifi is interim chief of UMC's trauma program and associate director of Arizona Telemedicine Program, a premier telemedicine program in the nation, where he leads telesurgery and international affairs. Born and raised in Kosova, he is an alumnus of medical faculty of the University of Prishtina, project director of the Telemedicine Program of Kosova, and president and founder of the International Virtual e-Hospital (www.iveh.org).
EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: Members of the group and Dr. Latifi are available for interviews by contacting Jo Marie Gellerman, (520) 626-7219.
