The Regional Secretary for Health stated in Vila do Porto that a telemedicine project that was recently implemented in the Azores for the monitoring and treatment of wounds already evidences "a time reduction in wound healing by 85%."

Luís Cabral praised the "proximity that this project has promoted among the nurses in charge of monitoring and treating patients with wounds, speeding up their healing. The Regional Secretary spoke Monday after attending a telemedicine session between Santa Maria Health Unit, Divino Espírito Santo Hospital and Faial Health Unit.

"This simple sharing of knowledge has contributed, early on, to a reduction in wound healing time and this is the best example of the benefits of telemedicine to patients residing on the nine islands of the archipelago," said Luís Cabral.

The treatment and monitoring of wounds is one of the 14 telemedicine-based projects that are being implemented to improve the access of the Azorean population to health care.

Telemedicine allows the observation, diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of patients as close as possible to their area of residence. This is project is of utmost importance in a geographically dispersed territory such as the Azores insofar as it promotes the optimisation of resources and prevents the travel of patients.