Tele-service attracts patients to Bamyan hospital
BAMYAN, 27 July 2009 (IRIN) - A hospital in Bamyan
Province, central Afghanistan, has set up a tele-medicine
facility, linking it to the French Medical Institute
for Children (FMIC) in Kabul, the capital, for tele-radiology,
tele-conferencing and other medical services.
The machine was launched in the Bamyan hospital by
the Aga Khan Health Services (AKHS) and Roshan
Telecom, also an Aga Khan enterprise.
“The tele-radiology allows us to electronically
send a digital scan of an X-ray to an expert in FMIC
in Kabul and receive the interpretation and expertise
quickly, instead of sending the patient with his/her
film to Kabul,” Mattew Rodieck, Bamyan hospital
manager, told IRIN.
In addition, through live tele-conference and tele-consultation
sessions, health workers from Bamyan hospital are
involved in training and exchange of information with
experts in Kabul for diagnostic purposes.
The machine, costing US$100,000, has helped the
hospital and patients save money and time because they
are not required to travel to Kabul – about 230km away
– for diagnosis and training.
“Instead of sending staff for a two-hour training
session in Kabul we electronically link the trainees
in Bamyan with the trainers in Kabul,” said Rodieck.
Up to 20 scans were exchanged between the FMIC in
Kabul and the Bamyan hospital in June, the first month
of the project.
The first tele-medicine project was launched in
2007 linking FMIC in Kabul to the Aga Khan University
Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. So far, more than 340
patients have benefited from the tele-medicine and
some 231 Afghan medical personnel have participated in
diagnostic and training opportunities facilitated by
the new technology, according to AKHS.
Source:
Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), a
project the Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs. IRIN is UN humanitarian news and
information service, but may not necessarily reflect
the views of the United Nations or its agencies. [This report does not necessarily
reflect the views of the United Nations] |