The Mandarin dialect of Chinese is the official language in China. A telemedicine effort would need to ensure that all relative information and data is created in, or can be successfully translated to, Mandarin Chinese. In addition, the many local dialects would need to be considered when putting this effort together to ensure that patients and medical professionals in all areas of China are able to communicate using the technology. Some of these dialects include Cantonese, Shanghaiese, Fuzhou, Hokkien-Taiwanese, Xiang, Gan, and Hakka.
Scepticism and concern regarding the effects of ICT can be expected, and therefore the privacy and confidentiality of patients’ personal information needs to be addressed at the beginning so as not to cause problems down the road.
Things to consider when creating an equipment and telecommunications network:
- Security and privacy
- Cost
- Availability of the service
- Bandwidth
- Transmission quality
Solid, developed government policy is important for telemedicine initiatives to take hold. If policy is fragmented, it will not have a good chance for success. Conflicting objectives of local and central governments can lead to failures in telemedicine.
China’s government must promote self-regulation and codes of conduct to decrease the likelihood of malpractice. In addition, there needs to be a legal framework in place for the prosecution of malpractice that could result from telemedicine efforts.
