Promoting the introduction of telemedicine systems in remote locations in regional Australia

Recently, the concentration of population in urban areas has led to the issue of providing medical care in rural areas around the world. In Dargo, a village at the foot of a mountain in Australia, patients who cannot be treated by nurses in a Nursing Centre have to go to a hospital in Melbourne, a city four hours away by car.

NRI Group company, Velrada Capital Pty Ltd (Velrada) and BRHS＊1 a regional healthcare service provider, worked together to introduce a telemedicine system using Mixed Reality (MR)＊2 to solve Dargo’s medical care issues. Nurses at the nursing center wear Microsoft HoloLens＊3 and connect via high-speed satellite internet with specialist doctors in Melbourne allowing patients to be examined while in Dargo. Patients can be seen not only for emergency, but also for followup after surgery in Melbourne. This technology has helped alleviate residents' concerns about medical care. Following its success in Dago, the system has spread to other regions, with 406 telemedicine cases in six months in the BRHS territory. The system is now being rolled out to remote locations throughout the state.

Velrada will continue to innovate medical care in rural areas and contribute to the realization of a society where people can live without medical concerns.

＊1 Bairnsdale Regional Health Service: An organization that provides a wide range of medical services to the East Gippsland region, including Dago.

＊2 Mixed Reality: The latest technology that merges the real and digital worlds

＊3 A headset device developed by Microsoft Corporation that enables MR. It can superimpose computer graphics on real space and visualize remote situations in real time.

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