The Regional Secretary for Health, Miguel Correia, signed a protocol with the Portugal Telecom Foundation at the Divino Espírito Santo Hospital on Thursday for the operation of the “Baby Care” system, already installed at the Department of Neonatology.

The system, which is an old aspiration of that medical department, consists of a total of four fixed video cameras, two of which are located at the Intensive Care Unit and the other two at the Intermediate Care Unit of the Department of Neonatology. These cameras are connected to a server, allowing parents to observe their children 24 hours a day via Internet as well as to take pictures and record videos. The babies’ parents will be given the credential to access this pioneering service in the Azores.

The “Baby Care” system, first introduced in Portugal in 2000 at the Alfredo da Costa Maternity in Lisbon, is the result of a donation made by the Portugal Telecom Foundation that transferred all the equipment deemed necessary for the efficient operation of the “Baby Care” system, which allows parents of babies admitted at the Department of Neonatology to follow their children from any island of the archipelago.

The soundless cameras are only directed at the cribs and incubators where parents can observe the behaviour of their newborn babies during hospital admission.

The Regional Secretary for Health advocated that the “Baby Care” system brings a new human dimension to the Department of Neonatology at the Divino Espírito Santo Hospital in Ponta Delgada, which corresponds to an increased professional responsibility by allowing an individual and general view of the Intensive and Intermediate Care Units.

Miguel Correia reiterated the Government’s intention to increasingly invest in telemedicine, given the geographic dispersion of the Azores.

He also recalled that the Azorean Government has already replaced all analogue imaging equipments for digital imaging equipments, thus facilitating image transfer protocols.

The Regional Secretary announced that the Government will extend the telemedicine system between the Divino Espírito Santo Hospital in Ponta Delgada and the Vila do Porto Healthcare Centre on the island of Santa Maria.

This system is expected to be extended and consolidated in the archipelago, stated Miguel Correia.