Peru. The Deputy Minister of Communications of the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC), Virginia Nakagawa, said that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are a transversal means that crosses all public and private sectors and that promotes the use of technology – changing and in continuous improvement – to achieve national objectives in favor of all actors and population in general.
He stressed that the development of ICT is a process that will always evolve and that generates important synergies. "Communications, as a means of fixed or wireless access, are half the side of a coin. What it is about is to provide the other essential half, which is what makes the result of an ICT real," he said.
In this line, the deputy minister highlighted the importance of Big Data management, which allows us to know, for example, the relevant information on traffic, the movement of tourists, the referenced geolocation of emergency calls. He also highlighted Telehealth, which seeks to streamline the processes of consultation, care, management and capacity building of the staff of health care institutions (IPRES).
Likewise, distance education and training programs for personnel involved in telemedicine, which are already being developed by the Ministry of Health (Minsa), should be strengthened; promote interoperability and promote the deployment and safeguarding of information from the Electronic Medical Record. The official emphasized that by 2021 the Telecommunications Fund (FITEL) should have connected more than 4,000 health facilities to the Internet.
Regarding Teleeducation, he stressed the urgency of promoting the development of skills in the use and appropriation of ICT in students, teachers and educational managers. "The main challenge is to overcome the digital divide, but it is time for a comprehensive digital economy culture to be implemented in which the user is the center of efforts, both from the public and private sectors," Nakagawa said.
The National ICT Policy in this area proposes: to ensure connectivity in all public educational institutions and to provide them with the necessary digital infrastructure; develop, approve and implement the National Digital Literacy Program, for which partnerships with private institutions will be necessary; and to consolidate the effective use of ICT in the teaching-learning process, in educational management, in teacher training and in distance education.
These and other topics such as digital security and smart cities, were addressed during the closing day of the International Forum "Contributions to the National Policy of Information and Communication Technologies and Broadband", organized by the MTC -with the support of the Japanese Embassy and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of that country-, and that on March 13 and 14 it brought together Peruvian, Spanish, Colombian, Mexican and Chilean experts, who detailed the experiences of ICT management in their respective countries from the governmental and private perspective, in a hotel in San Isidro.
