The Brazilian National Network of Education and Research (RNP) will inaugurate on Friday (12/14), five centers that will be connected to the Telemedicine University Network (RUTE). The ceremony will be held at 9am (10am in Brasilia) at the Cardiac Emergency Center of Pernambuco Prof. Luiz Tavares (PROCAPE) in Recife, and will be transmitted by videoconference to the other centers that will be inaugurated: University Hospital Oswaldo Cruz (HUOC) University of Pernambuco and the Institute of Integrative Medicine Professor Fernando Figueira (IMIP), also in Recife; the General Hospital Roberto Santos in Salvador, and the Clinical Hospital of the Faculty of Medicine of Botucatu, belonging to the Universidad Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (UNESP). In the ceremony will participate local authorities and the head of the Secretary for the Management of Work and Education in Health, of the Ministry of Health, Mozart Sales.

With these new centers, the Telemedicine University Network will reach a total of 68 inaugurated and in full operation points located all over Brazil. The initiative, considered the largest in the world in integrating University and Academic Hospitals, is connected to the Brazilian Ipê network, the advanced network infrastructure operated by RNP that enables collaborative research and permanent learning. Currently, there are 50 Special Interest Groups in different specialties and sub-specialties of health in full operation with 600 sessions per year by video and web conferencing, averaging two or three scientific sessions daily with the participation of 300 institutions, including some of Latin America.

Among other objectives, RUTE aims to integrate university and teaching hospitals; to formally create telemedicine centers; to support the use of videoconference and web conference; to facilitate the diagnostic analysis, the second opinion formation and permanent education and continue training of professionals and students in the area of health.

According to the coordinator of RUTE from RNP, Luiz Ary Messina, encouraging these actions enables the development of education and research and facilitates health care in the country. "With the interaction of the interest groups, experts discuss new treatment methodologies and how to deliver information to their colleagues, health professionals and residents. Thus, we are at the forefront of this activity in the world and therefore we have received worldwide recognition of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) "says Messina.