COLOMBIA; PARAGUAY

On October 9, the Ministry of Health issued a resolution establishing new parameters for the exercise of telemedicine in Colombian territory. The publication of this regulation seeks to regulate Law 1419 on Telemedicine, establishing guidelines and parameters for the practice of telemedicine. Telemedicine will be considered the activities of providing health services at a distance through information technologies. The regulations are already in force. Paraguay is also making progress in the implementation of its Digital Agenda, for which it will promote the incorporation of new health units in the use of the digital medical record in the short term. 

The resolution establishes that the person responsible for a telemedicine activity must obtain the patient’s or user’s informed consent, and inform them about the operation of this modality. Likewise, healthcare providers offering telemedicine must guarantee the authenticity, integrity, availability and reliability of the data and must use the necessary techniques to avoid the risk of impersonation, alteration and loss of confidentiality.

Paraguay is also moving ahead with the Digital Agenda program, promoted by the Executive Branch. Implemented in phases, one of the first will be the digitalization of procedures performed at state health entities, such as patient registration systems and digital medical records, at a total of 110 hospitals and Family Health Units (USF) to facilitate citizen consultations and enhance decision-making by the authorities.