Next week a group of Canadian speakers, many from Newfoundland, will participate in the first Hispano-Canadian Meeting on Telemedicine being held in Madrid, Spain, April 25-27. The meeting, which has been organized by Dr. Max House, professor emeritus at Memorial University of Newfoundland, and professor Pablo Gil-Loyzaga of the Faculty of Complutense in Madrid, has been substantially supported by the Government of Autonomous Region of Madrid.

The meeting will be held in Madrid's senior teaching hospital with some speakers participating by videoconference in St. John's and Toronto. The Hispano-Canadian Meeting was conceived at a meeting hosted by the Canadian Embassy in Madrid last April. Ambassador Marc Lortie and his staff have given strong support for the planning and for the meeting itself.

The main aims of the meeting are the presentation of the Telemedicine projects of both countries and the scientific and technical interchange between professionals. Dr. House, who is chair of the Scientific Committee, says he is delighted that 11 speakers from Canada will participate.

The organizers of the conference consider this the start of a continuing international relationship with the sharing of ideas and expertise across the spectrum of information, communication technologies (ICTs) for health and education, supporting researchers, developers, and users.