Borovinić Bojović: Telemedicine for More Accessible Healthcare in Remote Areas

The Deputy Prime Minister of Montenegro for health and social welfare, Dr. Jelena Borovinić Bojović, met with Jana Belčeva Andrejevská, an expert from North Macedonia, who presented experiences from a telemedicine pilot project through collaboration between NALAS, the government, and the relevant ministry. The meeting was also attended by the Secretary General of the Union of Municipalities of Montenegro, Mišela Manojlović, and they discussed the possibilities of adapting this model to the needs of the local healthcare system in Montenegro. This approach enables continuous monitoring of patients living in inaccessible and remote areas, as well as chronic patients who, due to their health condition, are unable to regularly visit doctors, with appropriate monitoring of their health status. Deputy Borovinić Bojović supported this initiative, emphasizing that telemedicine can be especially significant for the elderly, chronic patients, persons with disabilities, and citizens from rural and distant areas. Secretary General Manojlović expressed the readiness of the Union of Municipalities to connect interested local governments with healthcare institutions and international partners, and to contribute to providing the necessary conditions and resources for the implementation of the project. The interlocutors concluded that it is necessary to consider institutional, professional, and technical conditions, as well as concrete steps, to implement a telemedicine pilot project in a Montenegrin municipality, where citizens face limited access to healthcare services due to the remoteness of settlements, dispersed territory, or difficult transportation connections, by adapting the presented model to Montenegro's healthcare system.