Satellite Interconnection of Military Hospitals of the SEDM Countries (SIMIHO): A Novel Technological Forum as Model for Military Medical Surveillance and Response in SE Europe

摘要

The Ministers of Defense (MOD) of Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Italy, Germany, Greece, Romania, Slovenia, Turkey, and the United States, under the auspices of the South East Defense Ministerial Process (SEDM), adopted on Oct 9, 2000 the Greek proposal for Satellite Interconnection of their major Military Hospitals (SIMIHO). This initiative is evolving into a state-of-the-art medical surveillance system. The SIMIHO Working Group was formulated and tasked to provide feasibility recommendations for the next MOD meeting. The Working Group included senior military medical and technical experts from all the SEDM countries. It convened in Athens on three separate occasions to specify the essential requirements for the network. The MOD in their December 2002 meeting requested that the Working Group proceed with buying the essential material for the implementation of the project. Within a time frame of 18 months, the Working Group examined, discussed, and defined the following: (a) compatibility issues of existing information infrastructure, including integration issues; (b) telemedicine centers to be included throughout the SEDM countries; (c) medical specifications for the SIMIHO telemedicine integrated system, which may include telediagnosis, teleconsultation (videoconferencing), and medical teletraining; (d) operational policy issues of the telemedicine network under construction; (e) technical specifications, including use of a satellite network, a minimum of 2Mbps for interactive communication, and ways of maximizing imaging performance using a minimum of bandwidth; and (f) financial policy issues, such as the possibility of pay-per-use bandwidth utilization. This framework may serve as a model state- of-the-art medical surveillance system that has the potential to be used in several ways (e.g., C3, medical planning, casualty management) both in mobile military units and in the case of civilian disasters.