The Malaysian Ministry of Health is undertaking a major revamp of its Telehealth project, which began in 2002.

The project involves the integration of information communication and human-machine interface technologies to deliver and promote health care.

It also involves teleconsultation services used to extend specialist medical care to remote clinics and centres with links to secondary and tertiary hospitals and primary care facilities. The TC project links 41 hospitals and clinics.

In addition, Telehealth includes an online health portal providing information and education to the public using the internet. This covers a wide range of health information including wellness and illness topics and us designed to improve management of individual health.

For health professionals there is continuing professional development with services including a virtual library, modular distance learning, an online directory and competency assessments.

Lifetime health records have also been incorporated to facilitate integration between healthcare providers and individuals to lead towards seamless healthcare.

However, a revamp is needed because of reported glitches in the Telehealth project such as the long lead time to respond to clinical enquiries.

The revamp should be completed by 2010 and includes:

Development and implementation of teleprimary care to rural areas
Recruitment of retired health care professionals for call centres to enable a real-time response to enquiries from the public
Implementation of kiosks and internet access where patients and the general public can obtain further healthcare information
Improving continuous professional development of doctors and teleconsultation
MSC Technology Centre (MSCTC) is a Malaysian company providing consultation to the Ministry of Health. It is tasked to project-manage four hospitals as a pilot group with a further 10 hospitals to be added later.

NZTE Kuala Lumpur technology business development manager Heman Pillai says he has been advised that due to a number of projects within the Health IT sector in Malaysia that did not come to fruition, the Ministry of Health is interested in exploring other possible initiatives that could produce a more sustainable development for Malaysia’s telehealth initiative.

“New Zealand companies having capability and experience in the Health IT sector are encouraged to explore this opportunity,” he says.

Interested companies could forward their details to NZTE Kuala Lumpur which can then be presented to MSCTC.

The Telehealth project was launched as one of the seven flagship applications under the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC). Telehealth will play an essential role in the development of the MSC, as well as furthering the economic development of the MSC