Global maritime technology innovator Martek Marine has launched what it claims is the “world’s first affordable” telemedicine service, a move it claims could lead to annual industry-wide savings of up to $168mln.
At any given time, 1.5 million seafarers are operating around 55,000 merchant vessels across the globe. Of these seafarers, around seven per cent each year will be evacuated from the vessel on which they are working due to ill health.
The annual cost to the industry of diversions and helicopter evacuations is $760m, almost a quarter of which are ultimately unnecessary.
The ‘iVital’ service works by providing crew members with access to medical monitoring equipment on board and 24/7 access to a team of healthcare professionals onshore.
Should a seafarer fall ill, or suffer an injury, other crew members use a dedicated tablet computer to immediately contact a doctor with an in-depth knowledge of delivering treatment at sea.
iVital, the brainchild of the UK & Singapore based company, could save ship owners hundreds of thousands of dollars each through avoiding costly, and often ultimately unnecessary, course diversions and helicopter evacuations through the misdiagnosis of ill or injured crew members.
According to a 2013 study by the International Maritime Health Association, every year one in five seagoing ships is forced to divert due to a medical emergency, with an average cost of around $180,000 per diversion.
However, further research has shown almost a quarter of these diversions could have been avoided if the ship operator had a suitable telehealth system in place, meaning the industry could stand to make savings of up to $168mln.
