World’s Most Remote Island Gets Telemedical Care

November 14, 2007: Project Tristan was announced today, a scheme to give the world’s most remote inhabited island access to advanced telemedical care.

Tristan da Cunha is 2,680 kilometres west of South Africa, with the only access being by a one week boat trip and is home to 270 British citizens. ‘Project Tristan’ combines medical equipment, satellite communications and electronic health recording technology that can be controlled remotely. The purpose of this is to allow specialists from anywhere in the world to assist the island’s one doctor with on site diagnosis and provide advice.

Previously the communications setup on the island was lacking the ability to send and receive high quality medical images such as X-Rays without resorting to a low quality scan and fax of the image.

"The ability to share medical data quickly and easily will be a life saver for our residents,” said Dr. Carel Van der Merwe, Principal Physician.

Project Tristan is being assisted by donations and support from IBM, Beacon Equity Partners, Medweb, The University of Pittsburg Medical Center and the Government of Tristan da Cunha.

"Connecting the most remote inhabited spot on the face of the earth, Tristan da Cunha, to advanced medical care in real time and over the Internet is proof that the world is really flat. This a big step towards providing everyone access to centers of healthcare excellence regardless of geographical location," said Paul Grundy, MD, MPH, IBM’s executive sponsor for Project Tristan

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