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of the pillars of President Fox’s e-Mexico project is e-health.
The timing of the project could not be more finely judged: the country
faces a complex future in its healthcare needs.
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“Mexico’s
healthcare is at a crossroads,” says Julio
Frenk Mora, the Secretary of State for Health. “We
have come a long way in dealing with the most important public health
challenges, taking into account the country’s huge geographical
territory and its highly concentrated populations in the large cities.
We have one of the most complete immunisation schemes in the world and
we have rapidly reduced the rate of infectious diseases.”
However, he adds, there are two major differences
between healthcare in Mexico and healthcare in western Europe. The first
is Mexico’s rapid population growth over the last 30 years, and
the second is its marked social inequality.
President Fox’s health programme faces
three big challenges, says Mr Frenk. The first is to close the gap between
the different social groups and the regions, and the second is to develop
better quality services. However, the third requires a much more long-term
approach.
| E-health will help banish the vast distances people have to travel to access treatment |
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The
challenge is to address the problems thrown up by the fact that people
are now living longer. And this is something faced by many other countries
around the world.
With greater longevity, the nature of diseases
changes, and illnesses that are far more expensive to treat, such as
diabetes, cancer and mental illness, become more prevalent. “It
means enormous financial pressure on the healthcare system,” says
Mr Frenk. “Only half of the population has social insurance, and
we are facing population growth of almost catastrophic proportions.”
What the e-health project will accomplish
is to banish the distances people have to travel for both health education
and treatment. Mr Frenk says: “We have to reach the thousands of
communities of less than 100 people.
It is a paradox that we have one of the
largest populations in the world, but one which is highly dispersed.
This is critical because, for some communities, mostly ethnic groups,
their remoteness means they lack even the most basic services.”
“We simply cannot afford permanent
facilities such as hospitals for communities of less than 500. But if
we can link doctors and nurses to a telehealth network we will be able
to deal with the more complex issues.
“Our aim is to provide tools that
will complement the health worker, provide a management structure and
patient diagnosis, and handle the more complex problems. The number-one
priority is to finally overcome the obstacle of distance, which has
been a serious impediment to disseminating information.
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