US healthcare provider to help develop command centre for local telemedicine services

New York State’s healthcare provider and private employer Northwell Health has revealed plans to further strengthen healthcare services particularly in hinterland and riverine communities through its telemedicine initiative.
Telemedicine is a method of two-way, real-time interactive communication between a patient and healthcare provider at different locations.
It is supported by audio and video equipment, as well as integrated medical devices to evaluate, diagnose, and treat patients remotely.
The programme was officially launched in Guyana in 2022 and has expanded to 81 telemedicine sites to date. This initiative aims to enhance patient outcomes and emergency response capabilities in underserved communities – particularly those in the hinterland.
During a recent edition of The Guyana Dialogue programme, Vice President (VP) of the Centre for Global Health at Northwell Health, Dr Eric Cioe-Peña, discussed how his organisation is actively working to modernise and improve Guyana’s healthcare system.
The VP highlighted one project which his organisation is planning to execute in collaboration with the health Ministry that will see the already existing telemedicine network being significantly improved.
“What we’ve been thinking about for this is, how do we create a more robust telemedicine service? We want to take what the Ministry’s done and amplify it, make it bigger. We think about an acute care command centre. The Ministry is already heading this way in terms of they’ve allocated space and they want to build a command centre, but we want to integrate telemedicine into that command centre.”
According to Dr Cioe- Peña, this system would not only help patients by giving them immediate solutions but will also help the Ministry to save resources by eliminating unnecessary medical evacuations.
“Because sometimes you call for a patient transfer from Lethem, for instance, and the real answer is, you don’t need the patient to move. You just need someone who’s a specialist to give an opinion about that patient and help manage that patient remotely. We want the people to determine whether you get medevacked or whether there’s a telemedicine solution to be the same people and to be working in the same command centre. If the care can be delivered immediately where the patient lives, we do that.”
Moreover, as the Government works to digitise its services the VP also highlighted the important role Artificial Intelligence (AI) can play within the medical community as well as addressing workforce challenges.
“AI has the potential to make nurses and doctors, not only more efficient…It will actually bring the joy of being in medicine back to medicine because the things that we don’t like about medicine, AI can fix. They’re rolling out an EMR (Electronic Medical Record), but needing to spend time documenting what you’ve done for a patient instead of spending time with the patient.”
He added, “Decision tools that will help doctors and nurses provide better care, capture data. All of those things that right now are being done manually by people, we don’t have enough people in healthcare.”
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry received a $143.2 billion allocation in the 2025 budget. This allocation will be used to complete regional and specialty facilities, procure medical equipment, and other health-related initiatives. The budget also includes specific amounts for malaria prevention ($15 million), tuberculosis training ($12.5 million), and HIV/AIDS management training ($28 million). A significant portion of the budget is also dedicated to improving healthcare accessibility and quality nationwide, with $83.6 billion allocated for regional and clinical services.