With more than 60,000 patients already attended to, Chile has become a frontrunner in telemedicine. Now, with a new joint paper on the country’s experience, REUNA, Chile’s national research and education network (NREN), and RedCLARA, the regional research and education network for Latin America, are promoting telemedicine across the region.
Telemedicine plays a critical role in providing healthcare access to remote and underserved areas. In Chile, citizens in places like Arica, Chiloé and Isla Juan Fernández have been able to consult with medical services online instead of travelling long distances.
At the recent Ibero-American Digital Health Congress, REUNA and RedCLARA presented their paper on Chile’s telemedicine experience, underscoring the need to extend these capabilities throughout Latin America.
Expanding the model across the region
The engine for regional dissemination of telemedicine is the Latin American University Network for Telemedicine (RUTE-AL), an initiative that draws inspiration from Brazil’s University Telemedicine Network (RUTE) and receives support from RNP, the NREN of Brazil.
Since its creation in 2020, RUTE-AL has strengthened it governance with the participation of NRENs from five Latin American countries and the establishment of national chapters in each country. The participating networks are CUDI (Mexico), RENATA (Columbia), CEDIA (Ecuador), RNP (Brazil), and REUNA (Chile).
“Our commitment is to create and strengthen collaborative networks that drive digital transformation in Latin America, especially in key areas such as telemedicine. Through RUTE-AL, we bring together experts and promote knowledge exchange to benefit academic and healthcare communities in the region,” says Tania Altamirano, Manager of Academic Relations at RedCLARA.
During 2024, RUTE-AL organised 14 webinars, attracting more than 1,100 participants, with support from RedCLARA and the participating NRENs.
Connecting isolated efforts in universities
At the Congress, Paola Arellano, Executive Director of REUNA, emphasized the organisation’s role in fostering innovation in telehealth. She pointed out that although universities are keen to explore telemedicine, many initiatives remain fragmented and disconnected.
“Within each university, efforts often occur in small, isolated groups, with little collaboration across institutions,” Arellano said, as reported by RedCLARA. “This highlights the urgent need for consolidated, collaborative networks to enable knowledge sharing and accelerate telemedicine development in the region.”
The text is inspired by the article “RUTE-AL’s Experience Highlights at the Ibero-American Digital Health Congress” by Jenny Flores at the RedCLARA website.
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