About the report "Networking Health: Prescriptions for the Internet"

<<March 10, 2000>>

Salah H. Mandil, Ph.D. <mandils@who.int>

Dena S. Puskin, Sc.D. <dpuskin@hrsa.gov>

Kimberly K. Obbink <kobbink@montana.edu>

Ms. Mickelle Rodgers <mrodgers@nas.edu>

Jerry Sheehan <JSheehan@nas.edu>

Dr. Joseph N. Pelton <ecjpelton@aol.com>

Shin Takuma, M.D. <st245@columbia.edu>

Dear Salah:
===========

(1) Many thanks for your msg (ATTACHMENT I).

YES, you are right!! The atmosphere during Q&A at the press release mtg
of the report "Networking Health: Prescriptions for the Internet" at the
National Academy of Sciences on 2/23rd was as you correctly presumed in
your last sentence. Frankly speaking, I was rather disappointed with it
-- is the medical profession based on humanitarian or profit motives?

This was in sharp contrast with your International Consultation
Conference on TeleHealth and TeleMedicine at WHO last
January -- this report did not even distinguish the difference
between the telehealth and telemedicine, which I pointed out during
the Q&A session to the panelists.

(2) On the other hand, when I visited Dena on 3/3rd, she welcomed our
approach of the Native American community project -- I met her at your
WHO conference.

This is because our approach of deploying broadband Internet is not only
for tele-health/tele-medicine and tele-learning but also for non-profit
organizations (e.g., libraries, non-governmental organizations, local
government agencies, etc.) -- in a sense, a community development
approach. Dena was pleased to find that this matches with her "TELE-VILLAGE" concept.

Kim is now arranging our next mtg with Dena during the week of 3/20 to 23rd.

(3) During the Q&A, I also made a few comments;

(a) Internet is based on telecommunication. Once you use the word
"telecommunications," you are bound to think globally -- as Joe
Pelton once told me many years ago.

(b) Tele-learning and tele-health/tele-medicine have to be two wheels
of a cart, in order to have economic sustainability.

(c) Multimedia will be an inevitable necessity in both fields, thus the
need for the deployment of global broadband Internet.

(d) This requires huge investment, thus the need for our Global Service
Trust Fund (GSTF) approach.

(4) The panelists duly noted my comments -- Ed Shortliffe did not know about our
echocardiograph telemedicine demonstration between Tampere, Finland and
his Presbyterian Hospital of Columbia University in New York last August
-- because he just moved from Stanford University.

Dear Electronic Colleagues:
===========================

(5) Ms. Rodgers and Mr. Sheehan informed me that copies of the
prepublication version of the report are now dwindling so that they
prefer you to retrieve it at <http://books.nap.edu/catalog/9750.html>.

Best, Tak
****************************************
ATTACHMENT I

From: mandils@who.ch
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 10:34:25 +0100
To: <utsumi@friends-partners.org>
Subject: Re:Broadband Internet for telemedicine

Dear Tak,

Thank you for drawing my attention to the report. I have e-requested a copy.

I know Ted Shortliffe and I do agree with his committee's recommendation of
the importance of taking the technical demands of the medical uses of the
Internet, into much much greater consideration in the ongoing developments of
the Internet. It appears that, so far, this has not taken place. The medical
uses of the Internet simply tap, or draw on, the features resulting from the
non-medical (predominantly e-commerce) uses.

Salah MANDIL
Geneva
****************************************

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Salah H. Mandil, Ph.D.
Director-Advisor
Health Informatics & Telematics
World Health Organization
20, Avenue Appia
CH-1211 Geneva 27
SWITZERLAND
+41-22-791-2426 (direct)
+41-22-791-2111
Fax: +41-22-791-4702
ISDN +41.22 791 1132 and 1133
mandils@who.int
mandils@who.ch

Dena S. Puskin, Sc.D.
Director, Office for the Advancement of Telehealth
Deputy Director, US Public Health Service
Office of Rural Health Policy, Room 11A55
Health Resources and Services Adiministration
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, MD 20857
USA
Tel: 1 301 443 0447
Fax: 1 301 443 1330
dpuskin@hrsa.gov
http://telehealth.hrsa.gov

Kimberly K. Obbink
Director
Burns Telecommunications Center and Extended Studies
128 EPS Building,
Montana State University
Bozeman, MT 59717-3860
USA
Tel: +1-406-994 6550
Fax: +1-406-994 7856
kobbink@montana.edu
http://btc.montana.edu

Ms. Mickelle Rodgers
National Academy of Sciences
2101 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC
202/334-2605
mrodgers@nas.edu

Jerry Sheehan
Study Director
JSheehan@nas.edu

Dr. Joseph N. Pelton
Senior Research Scientist
Institute for Applied Space Research, Rm 340
George Washington University
2033 K Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20052
202-994-5507
Fax: 202-994-5505
ecjpelton@aol.com
jpelton@seas.gwu.edu
Or,
Acting Executive Director of CITI
Vice-Chair of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation of the U.S. (ACCFUS)
Arthur C. Clark Institute for Telecommunication and Information (CITI)
4025 40th Street North
Arlington, VA 22207
(703) 536-6985
ecjpelton@aol.com
http://www.informatics.org/clarke/projects.html

Shin Takuma, M.D.
Associate in Medicine.
Cardiology Division
Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center
Department of Medicine
College of Physicians & Surgeons
Columbia University
630 West 168th street
New York, NY 10032-10391
USA
Tel: +1-212-305-0594 (direct)
Tel: +1-212-305-9875
Fax: +1-212-305-9049
st245@columbia.edu
**********************************************************************
* Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E., Chairman, GLOSAS/USA *
* (GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A.) *
* Laureate of Lord Perry Award for Excellence in Distance Education *
* Founder of CAADE *
* (Consortium for Affordable and Accessible Distance Education) *
* President Emeritus and V.P. for Technology and Coordination of *
* Global University System (GUS) *
* 43-23 Colden Street, Flushing, NY 11355-3998, U.S.A. *
* Tel: 718-939-0928; Fax: 718-939-0656 (day time only--prefer email) *
* Email: utsumi@columbia.edu; Tax Exempt ID: 11-2999676 *
* http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/ *
**********************************************************************

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