Digital medicine in the virtual hospital of the future

Provision of global healthcare requires global interoperability of medical services Therefore, the creation of a Virtual Euro- Mediterranean Hospital for a real integration is proposed. Preoperative planning, intra-operative navigation and minimally-invasive surgery require a digital and virtual environment supporting the perception of the physician. An integrated satellite–internet platform allows for e-learning, real-time telemedicine and medical assistance. Due to the distributed character of the virtual hospital the implementation of Grid-enabled technologies and services becomes important.