ABSTRACT
Telemedicine is a vast subject, but as yet there are limited data on the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of most telemedicine applications. As a result, objective information about the benefits and drawbacks of telemedicine is limited. Telemedicine can improve access to information for health professionals, for patients and for the population in general. Communication between the primary and secondary health-care sectors has traditionally been carried out by mail, but email is increasingly being used for this purpose. Home monitoring and treatment of patients suffering from a wide range of diseases would improve the quality of care and be more efficient. Telemedicine has the potential to augment conventional methods of health care so that one day high-quality health care will be available to everyone, everywhere. How telemedicine might achieve this is principally by increasing equitable access to health information and by improving its exchange throughout the entire health-care pyramid.
