Establishing a low-cost telemedicine link in far-eastern Russia

A community-based primary care partnership was established between the University of Kentucky and the Central Hospital in Pereyaslavka, Russia. To assess community health needs, a community-initiated decision-making process was employed. As part of the primary care partnership, we conducted a telehealth pilot trial between a primary care hospital in Pereyaslavka and a tertiary care facility in Khabarovsk. Videoconferencing and the transmission of heart and lung sounds via telephone lines were successful within the Pereyaslavka Hospital. Videoconferencing was successful between the two hospitals (60 km apart) but the telephone lines were too noisy for the electronic stethoscopes. Telephone-based videoconferencing may prove to be important in helping rural medical practitioners in the Khabarovsk Territory to enhance the quality of health-care.