The ability of the Internet to link people and places through a global network of computer networks has opened up a new horizon for scientific cooperation and collaboration worldwide. Cyberspace Hospital Cyberspace Hospital was launched by the National University of Singapore on 1 May 1995. Cyberspace Hospital also caters to the lay audience by helping it access the plethora of information on health education and preventive medicine. The second, and altruistic, mission is to make Singapore an information hub for health and medical resources so that Singapore can be an active provider of information on the Internet and not just a receiver. Cyberspace Hospital offers a World Wide Web site that provides a single-node access to health information resources on the Internet in a virtual hospital setting.
Information access is achieved through hyperlinks to various medical sites throughout the world.
Just as in a real hospital, one can find hospital services such as accidents and emergency, pharmacy, nursing, health education, intensive care, clinical laboratories and diagnostic radiology. Cyberspace Hospital even boasts a cafeteria, a news agent, and a shopping arcade where electronic transactions can be carried out for flowers or baby gift baskets. Specialist departments, which are located mainly on levels 3 and 4 of the virtual hospital, include pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, surgery, ophthalmology, orthopedic surgery, and oncology. A visitor to any of these departments will find links to an extensive array of websites related to that discipline. A simple mouse click on any of the links will connect the Cyberspace Hospital visitor with the selected website, which might be either in Singapore or in another country half-way round the world.