In a medical image management system, the network load can be reduced and the network resources can be effectively used. A console (6) transmits status update instruction information corresponding to the progress status of photographing by a modality (5) to a server (2). The server (2) updates the status information of list data according to the received status update instruction information and transmits the updated list data to a viewer (3). The console (6) temporally stores medical image data generated by the modality (5) and transfers the temporally stored medical image data to the viewer (3) in response to a transmission instruction from the viewer (3). The console (6) also transfers the all temporally stored medical image data to the server (2) at a predetermined time.
