Connexion 
World Health Day
Today is the World Health Day. Let's take a look at Mongolia.
Mongolia is one of the most sparsely populated countries. Half of the population lives in the capital, Ulaanbaatar, while the other half lives in 21 provinces. The harsh climate makes it difficult to access healthcare, especially for province citizens.
To improve the management of chronic, cardiovascular diseases and thereby improve the quality of care of patients nationwide, telemedicine was introduced 22 years ago in Mongolia by the project implemented with the support of the Luxembourg Cooperation.
Doctor-to-doctor teleconsultation has created a team of cardiologists that provides them with opportunities for mutual learning, networking and introducing better quality services to patients in remote areas.
Here is an example of how the different levels work together:
- in Zavkhan province, which is located over 1 000 km distance from the capital, a family hospital physician estimates a patient’s risk for developing cardiac diseases and uploads basic test results and physical measurements to the telemedicine platform, MnCardio;
- he then consults with the cardiologists from a secondary/province level hospital and refers the patient if necessary to the province hospital;
- there, the patient undergoes several additional tests and may be referred back to home with lifestyle changes and medical therapy recommendations or is being referred to the specialised hospital in Ulaanbaatar for a more advanced diagnostic and therapeutic approach based on the teleconsultation decision with the National Cardiac Center’s doctors;
- after advanced cardiac tests and surgery, the patient is followed up by both cardiologists from secondary and tertiary level hospitals and the family hospital doctor.
Telemedicine, as part of the projects implemented by LuxDev and financed by the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg, has contributed to flattening cardiac diseases and reducing cardiac death (from 24.4 to 16.4 per 10 000 population) from 2003 to 2020. It has become a model for other health sectors and duplication has already been made in the neurology sector.
↑ Haut de la page