Telemedicine for airline passengers, seafarers and islanders.

Airline passengers, seafarers and islanders are three different examples of people who can benefit from telemedicine. However, the peculiar characteristics of each group require different applications. In 60 years of activity, the CIRM has assisted more than 37,000 patients. In the 10 years from 1986 to 1996 the Centre provided radio medical assistance to 7647 patients, of whom 6981 (91.3%) were sailors, 642 (8.4%) were people living in isolated areas (small italian islands) with few medical facilities, while only 24 patients (0.3%) were airline passengers. In the same period, the telecommunication service received or transmitted almost 80,000 medical messages.