ARMONK, NY - IBM and Beacon Equity Partners today joined Medweb, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and the Government of Tristan da Cunha in announcing the implementation of "Project Tristan," a telemedicine initiative.

Tristan da Cunha, the world's most remote inhabited island, can now access telemedical care. The services are being offered pro-bono from the high-technology team led by IBM and Beacon Equity Partners.

The project combines medical equipment, satellite communications and remotely supported electronic health record (EHR) technology, making it possible for medical experts from anywhere in the world to assist island clinicians in their daily practices with medical diagnoses and emergency support.

Tristan da Cunha is located more than 1,665 miles west of Cape Town, South Africa, and is accessible only by a boat trip lasting a week or more. Some 270 British Citizens call the island home.

Until recently, the island's only physician, Carel Van der Merwe, MD, had to rely on minimal technology and limited medical support. With no phone and lacking a communications system that could accept e-mail attachments, help in interpreting X-Rays or EKGs, he has depended on digital images scanned, printed and faxed to specialists thousands of miles away, delaying diagnoses by days.