“The Mammoth Can Turn Into A Graceful Dolphin”

With the support of the European Union, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund, the tender project of the Ministry of Defence State Medical Centre (HM ÁEK) has been implemented, as a result of which one of the complex imaging diagnostic systems in the country has been set up in Budapest. Thanks to the new apparatuses that capture, forward, and store X-ray photographs, reports can be examined in a medical centre in another location and the complete diagnosis can be sent back. With this procedure, the HM ÁEK has laid the groundwork in Hungary for the medical application of teleradiology (remote interpretation of radiological images) known and used in tactics.

"It is an EU development project as a result of which an integrated system for diagnostic data has been set up in every site of the State Medical Centre: from now on, people can access these data in an online format," Minister of Defence Imre Szekeres said at the public demonstration of the system. "This also has a symbolic significance: it is a good reflection of how many changes the HM ÁEK has undergone in the past three-three and a half years, which – in Formula-1 terminology – is the joint achievement of the excellent development engineers, the excellent pilot, and the excellent team. In Hungarian health care, it is perhaps the establishment of the ÁEK that was the largest development in recent years," said the minister, who reminded the guests that the Centre was created by the merger of four prestigious health care institutions – the Honvéd Hospital, the hospital of the Ministry of the Interior, the MÁV Hospital, and the Institute for the Further Training of Physicians – in addition to the integration of further sites in the country. "While in 2006, the four institutions had six thousand employees and a 44 million forint budget, today they have a staff of 2,900 and a budget of 26 billion forints," Imre Szekeres pointed out, underlining that the successful integration process is highly important because the institutes that have merged had different traditions, different set of rules and habits. "This successful integration is exemplary in both the EU and the NATO, there are only a few similar examples," said the minister, who also emphasised that the priority hospital established by the merger provides medical care for 2 million citizens in certain areas and in addition to that, it provides a proper military medical background to the Hungarian Defence Forces.

"The plans for the second phase of the project have been completed; in this place, the former MÁV Hospital will be reconstructed and a 500-bed capacity will be established, as a result of which operation will be more efficient and more integrated. The necessary amount is at our disposal, since the state will advance the costs from the income generated by selling the properties owned by predecessor institutions," Imre Szekeres said.

The previous IT system at HM ÁEK’s site number 1 ensured highest quality patient care even before the project. However, the radiology and IT services of the other sites did not reach this level and there was no imaging connection between the sites. The aim of the present project was to upgrade the medical diagnostic equipments and to introduce an integrated system in order to improve patient care. Medical Director Dr. Péter Bazsó used a vivid example to demonstrate the importance of the new diagnostic system: “It is like they decided in film industry that since action movies earn less, they would make a Schwarzenegger out of four Bruce Lees, who knows everything the four Bruce Lees do. Which may happen soon, because this result can be produced easily with enough food and steroids. We have also become one of these Schwarzeneggers, but we had to realize that we do not know as much as four Bruce Lees do, because the nervous system cannot be pumped up. In other words, the movements can be refined and the level of development can be improved further. The mammoth that has been created received a nervous system, and now it can turn into a graceful dolphin," said Director Bazsó.

The newly developed system, the so-called PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications System) connects the sites of the HM ÁEK: the backbone of the project was the establishment of the technical background that is necessary to the operation of the system. In addition to that, the modern medical technical equipments have been systematised in line with common professional principles to ensure better utilisation of staff, continuous, 24-hour operation, and archiving. The most vulnerable part of the system is the radiological activity, mainly because there is an extraordinary demand: on a consulting day, they often conduct 7-800 examinations. The new system allows fast, real time transfer of information (MR, CT, or mammography) from the place of examination to direct patient care facilities, that is operating theatres, traumatologies, examination rooms. By connecting the IT systems of the sites a new, integrated IT structure has been created with the help of which a digital photo taken of a patient is now accessible for any specialist involved in the treatment and it gives them an opportunity for consultation.

Dr. Péter Bazsó pointed out that in emergency medicine it really matters how long one has to wait for a radiology report, because minutes may mean life. Dr. Sándor Drávucz, Deputy Director General responsible for strategy and science emphasised that with the new system considerable costs can be saved, since there is no need for further examinations only because the treatment of the patient takes place in more than one location.

The new system is compatible with the similar IT network of other Hungarian hospitals. Dr. Péter Bazsó said with the help of the new equipments, theoretically, they could immediately give diagnosis of the injuries of a soldier on duty in Afghanistan, provided the health care institutions in the country have an internet connection, since the technology of the system is based on the world wide web.