Fujitsu, VMware enable remote working for all Catalan healthcare staff assisting COVID-19 sufferers

Fujitsu today announces it has implemented – with its partner VMware – a secure and resilient cloud project in just days for healthcare teams in Catalonia. The project gives doctors and nurses continuous remote access to the medical records needed to fight the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic from their homes and other locations.

The ultra-rapid project was delivered for the Catalan Institute of Health (ICS) and the Catalan Government’s Center for Telecommunications and Information Technology (CTTI)[1]. Initially it supported remote work for 1 200 key ICS professionals at the main Catalan hospitals and across 324 Primary Care Centers and 625 medical practices. The platform was immediately expanded and within three weeks it provided all 40 000 ICS care workers with remote working capabilities. The solution uses VMware Horizon Cloud to manage virtual desktops and applications. In addition, VMware Cloud on AWS enables CTTI to quickly and more securely move applications to the main public cloud, thus benefiting from greater agility, flexibility and scalability, as well as significant cost savings.

The Catalan government has been working since 2019 on remote access for critical applications

The CTTI had already been collaborating with Fujitsu since 2019 to create a remote working solution for government tax staff. This prior development was key to carrying out the healthcare project so quickly, allowing the tax system solution to be repurposed for healthcare professionals. As a result, healthcare personnel can access the two essential, virtualised systems they need to help patients. The first is a specialised care application (ARGOS) used by 22 hospitals. The second is ECAP, which the various Catalan healthcare providers use for primary care. These two solutions enable professionals to access patients’ medical histories, prescription records and current treatments – essential but sensitive information where data security is paramount.

[1]CTTI integrates all IT and telecommunications services for the Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia). It provides cohesive solutions tailored to government departments. Its main objectives include the design, construction, co-ordination and deployment of technology projects, as well as the promotion and incorporation of innovation and digital transformation.

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