Several Asian hospitals are doing experiments with tele-medicine. Tele-medicine is a technology that allows doctors to "see" patients without them being in the same place. This is made possible through high-speed communication networks(网络). At both ends of the line, the way of video-meeting lets them see and talk to each other. Blood pressure (血压) and body temperature are directly shown on computers.
Tele-medicine is already in wide use in some places such as the United States and Germany. Among other uses, village doctors hold "consultations (会诊)"with far-away experts(专家). The experts can also help them during operations.
Tele-medicine has been slow to reach Asia because of high costs besides other reasons. When things improve, this technology will develop very fast. Chinese University of Hong Kong's medical school has joined a big hospital in Beijing, and Thailand is building a tele-medicine station connecting 20 areas.
Tele-medicine will do good to patients because doctors from different places can see them and give their medical advice. The help is quite important if the disease is an unusual one. It also helps spread medical knowledge among experts.
As tele-medicine develops well, its costs will be lower and it will become very popular in the medical field.
