Telemedicine aims to fill in the gaps in northern Ontario medical care

A Sudbury doctor says technology may be the answer to improving access to health care in remote areas.

A recent report by the public agency Health Quality Ontario states people in northeastern Ontario have much less access to family doctors than those in urban settings.

Dr. Derek Manchuk said a new program is helping more northerners get specialized care without having to leave home.

Manchuk helped develop the system where a team of specialists in Sudbury consults and assesses patients across the region by teleconference.

"I've had physicians in rural environments say they would quit practising emergency medicine if this didn't exist because they feel so comfortable now," he said.

Manchuk said the system, in place since last April, is a first in Canada.

He noted the technology can apply to other areas of medicine.

"I think this is the future of acute care medicine. If it works for intensive care medicine, there's no reason it couldn't work for different specialty groups in terms of offering this outreach service to our rural partners."

Manitoulin Island's Dr. Stephen Cooper applauds the development of virtual intensive care.

Cooper, who is Chief of Staff at the health centre in Little Current, said access to health care is not as simple as too few doctors. Additional training could help remote doctors provide more services, he said.

"There are communities like Kapuskasing where, definitely, no question, more doctors are needed," he said.

"But there's other communities where fixing the mix of doctors will solve the problem."