Telemedicine is a rapidly developing application of clinical medicine where medical information is transferred via telephone, the Internet or other networks for the purpose of consulting, and sometimes remote medical procedures or examinations. It can be also used for educational purposes.

The event was organized within UNDP pilot project "Use of ICT for Medical Diagnosis of Poor Rural People in Remote Areas" (the telemedicine project). The objective of the project is to build and maintain the capacity of a group of trainers on diagnostics and research activities and to improve access to qualified medical services for population in two selected regions, with special attention to women and children and those, who can not afford or have limited access to health care services in the field of pathologoanatomy, particularly the poor and the disabled.

Around 60 medical experts, including senior officials and heads of medical research institutes, participated at the workshop entitled "Importance of telemedicine in medical diagnostics for rural regions of Uzbekistan", which was held on 30 April-1 May. The workshop was aimed at improving knowledge of hospitals’ administrations on possibilities of telemedicine to start new initiatives in this field and providing hands-on training for pathologists on use of database for improvement the quality of telemedicine services in remote regions.

The participant acquired knowledge on telemedicine system of macro and microscopy and improvement of telemedicine services in remote regions through introduction of patients’ clinical cases database system, as well as experience of foreign countries in use of telemedicine system.

Aziza Umarova, head of good governance unit of UNDP Uzbekistan, said: "Telemedicine is new direction on healthcare system and it has some advantages. In particular, the telemedicine can bring high quality medical services to remote areas and decrease expenses of patients, while it can be also used to train medical personnel."

"Introduction of ICT is new era in improvement of pathologoanatomic service, as [telemedicine] provides opportunity for doctors to receive consultations from skilled doctors," director of the Republican Pathology Center of Uzbekistan and academician Malika Abdullakhodjaeva said.