Senator Coonan announced funding of $5 million to provide fat broadband services to support health care and emergency services in small communities in remote North Queensland.
Under the federal Clever Networks program, Queensland Health will be given funding for its Cooeenet@qld project, which is being developed in partnership with the Department of Emergency Services and the e-Health Research Centre.
The project targets 15 remote communities with an immediate need for improved intervention in the early treatment of emergency patients. The communities benefiting from the funding include Bowen, Charters Towers, Cloncurry, Cooktown, Ingham, Normanton, Thursday Island and Weipa.
“This project will help provide timely intervention in the care of patients unable to travel long distances easily and who are often in a distressed state,” said Senator Coonan.
“Cooeenet will assist patients in these communities by providing online access to specialist health services, such as paediatrics and ophthalmology, which may be hundreds of kilometres away.”
The new services will be based on state-of-the-art digital technology for vital sign monitoring and videoconferencing, as well as providing radiology image capture, storage and transmission, and breast screening.
Clever Networks is a $113 million program that aims to improve service delivery in regional, rural and remote Australia through innovative broadband projects.
For more Future Parc news click here .
