A video phone link was set up at the Nunyara Wellbeing Centre in Whyalla Stuart last week in an attempt to improve medical service and advice for Whyalla's Aboriginal population.
The video phone can be used for outpatient consultations with hospitals such as the Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide.
The project will reduce the need for long distance travel for outpatient services and provides the opportunity for direct consultations over the phone.
Doctor Tori Wade, medical director of the company funding the project, has been travelling to regional and remote areas to help implement the use of the phones.
Phone links were also set up at Port Augusta, Ceduna, Yalata and APY lands, with more to come in other regional areas in the future.
"The main need is to improve access to specific services," Dr Wade said.
"It allows for greater continuity of care without patients having to travel.
"Things like the burns unit at Women's and Children's, they've got a video phone now so we can offer that level of specialist advice and expertise very quickly without having to wait weeks or months for a visiting service."
Cindy Zbierski from Nunyara said that the phone has been used once in its week of operation by a burns unit patient.
"An outpatient of Women's and Children's had their burn assessed and they will do that on a weekly basis."
Ms Zbierski anticipates the phone could be quite useful if the centre is able to use it for other applications on top of medical consultations.
"If we can use it for other applications it will be very useful."
The video phones have broader uses but for now the program is focusing on indigenous health.
There is the possibility for use in emergency departments in regional hospitals to give specialist advice more quickly.
The Royal District Nurses Service has installed the phones in patient's homes to remind sufferers of dementia to take their tablets without nurses having to make house calls every morning.
According to Dr Wade this program has worked quite well and demonstrates how easy it is to use the video phones.
The biggest obstacle to the widespread implementation of video phone links is the lack of fast broadband.
"That is why it is relatively new in country areas, because fast broadband has only recently arrived," Dr Wade said.