| |
Puerto Rico intends
to expand the scope and scale of its sophisticated health services,
to make them even more attractive for patients in the Caribbean
region. We already receive visitors from around the Caribbean who
take advantage of the specialized medical services such as the Cardiovascular
Hospital at the University of Puerto Rico Medical Center. The health
services cluster “Concilio de Salud de Puerto Rico”
or Health Council, is focusing its efforts on two growth areas of
the health industry: Telemedicine and Clinical Research.
The telemedicine pilot project is a joint effort of the Department
of Health, PRIDCO and the private sector to provide access to specialized
medical services for every local and regional clinic on the island.
The telemedicine network will reduce costs and increase the efficiency
and accessibility of our medical centers, even for patients in the
most remote mountain communities. The same network will be a key
element in providing advanced medical education to our interns and
residents, who will enjoy participating in grand rounds at major
US teaching hospitals. Similarly, they will be able to share clinical
experiences with the rest of the Caribbean and Latin America.
The Clinical Research Initiative is designed to promote the growth
of clinical research on the island, both at our medical centers
as well as in private clinics. Four pharmaceutical companies have
already discovered that Puerto Rico is an excellent location for
clinical research, and we hope to expand this industry with new
incentives and new training programs to create the skilled personnel
necessary for this growing industry. As part of this initiative,
the Health Council is collaborating with the Department of Health
as well as the private sector to create an electronic medical database,
which will facilitate epidemiological research, at the same time
helping our local medical providers to comply with the new HIPAA
regulations for medical record security and confidentiality.
|
