1. Hong Kong is a very urbanized city, so there is no decision support system that is specifically developed for rural areas. However, in China, this is a very common problem as there are millions of people living in rural areas, and there is great discrepancy in medical technology and personnel. In rural areas, they have clinicians known as “barefoot doctors”, who are not really trained doctor but health workers with clinical training with only the education level of high school graduates. To narrow the knowledge gap, electronic-based clinical decision support systems which are common in China’s hospitals have been introduced to these rural areas. The advantage is that this could be powerful technology to improve clinical outcomes. However, the undereducated barefoot doctors may not be well trained in using this new technology, or they may develop overdependence the system. See this article from Lancet.

2. Certainly. Nurses or community health workers, paired with NCD management tools, could provide service to provide coverage of medical services for large remote regions. Telemedicine, more stipends and budgeting from the government to improve primary care technology, allowance and better salary to attract clinicians to work in rural areas are all equally as important measures to improve rural medical standards.