Telemedicine project

Implementation year: 2013

In the fall of 2013, the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation launched a project of implementing innovative information technologies at medical institutions in the Donetsk Oblast to reduce the time and distance separating Ukrainian patients from modern and accurate diagnosis and treatment.

Four tuberculosis dispensaries (specialized treatment centers) in the Donetsk Oblast (in Kramatorsk, Mariupol, Shakhtarsk and Horlivka) received a telecommunications system connecting them with Donetsk Regional Tuberculosis Clinic (DOCTO). Using this system, DOCTO specialists held online consultations, prescribed and corrected treatment schemes for patients with drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis. During online conferences, doctors read the patients’ medical history, communicated with their attending physicians, asked questions about the course of treatment to patients themselves who were unable to come to Donetsk for a personal consultation. It resulted in a more effective and better-quality treatment, and helped reduce expenses of doctors and patients.

A systemic approach to the use of telemedicine in the field of phthisiology was developed as part of this project. A system was built, which helped not only consult the patients but also handle numerous administrative matters.

Thanks to Telemedicine project, doctors held over 1000 consultations for patients with drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis.