The tele-health revolution was cited by IBM last month as one of the five major ways that technology will transform modern lifestyles.

Ireland-based Tele Health Services will offer remote health solutions in Thailand by using equipment manufactured by AMD Telemedicine, the leading provider of medical devices for clinical telemedicine. The company has already installed remote health equipment in 5,000 locations in 68 countries.

Dr Thomas Earlie, Tele Health Service's pilot project manager, made the announcement to a group of 40 health professionals and businessmen at the Conrad Hotel in Bangkok yesterday.

Steven Normandin, president of AMD Telemedicine, provided examples of both clinical and home-care networks that AMD has dealt with in remote parts of the world.

"Remote health is an idea whose time has come," said Earlie. "Our objective is to decrease national healthcare costs, increase choice and independence for service users and support hospital discharge and intermediate use. If Thailand adopts tele-health, it will bring massive healthcare quality increases and cost savings."

Neil Robbirt, of Bangkok-based Global Investments International, said: "From the investor's view, tele-health is an attractive proposition precisely because it solves problems and saves money for both patients and health institutions."

Earlie added: "Telemedicine is essentially about people and their needs rather than technology."