A telemedicine session between FMIC in Kabul and AKU in Karachi
Karachi in 2007. In 2008, the network was expanded through a radio link between FMIC and Bamyan Provincial Hospital – the first time telemedicine became available in a rural health facility in Afghanistan. A second expansion took place when Faizabad Provincial Hospital was connected to the network in 2010.
Plans are already underway to expand the network to a number of rural health centres managed by AKHS, A in the remoter areas of Badakhshan and Bamyan, as well as to other medical institutions in the country.
As the network has expanded, its technical capacities have also increased. Facilities are now available for tele-radiology and tele-pathology. Tele-radiology allows FMIC to send the results of images, such as CT and MRI scans, to the University Hospital for analysis. In 2010, 640 cases benefitted from the link, a 75 per cent growth in cases from 2009. Tele-consultations allow doctors in Bamyan or Faizabad to consult specialists in Kabul through live video conferencing links.
These positive developments notwithstanding, keeping this e-health system up and running is challenging, given Afghanistan’s mountainous terrain, limited infrastructure and security problems. Despite these obstacles, telecommunication links have improved with time, and the use of telemedicine has increased as medical staff in the provinces has become more aware of the benefits.
Health provision in Afghanistan has come a long way since 2001 when the system was almost in total disarray. While providing and improving basic health services to people is still the most pressing need for the country’s emerging health care system, telemedicine and other e-health applications are bound to play a growing role in expanding accessto quality health care. For Husnia, the telemedicine session with
Dr Sabir paid off: she learned that she has an inner ear infection which must be treated urgently. She will have to receive antibiotic treatment at the hospital and once stabilised, go to Kabul for tests which are not available in Bamyan. For her, the illness has not tolled deafness – she has the chance of hearing once again.
Read more at AKU News Letter Winter 2011
Click to down load PDF News letter 2011
The Right – and Room – to Read
If quality basic education is every child’s right, then the San Francisco-based Room to Read and AKU’s Institute for Educational Development in East Africa (IED, EA), supported by the Awali Reads project, are poised to substantially improve the literacy rates of primary school students in east Tanzania and Zanzibar. It is the Canada-based Awali group’s second venture, building on their successful partnership with AKU that helped in setting-up IED in Dar es Salaam five years ago…
Source: AKU Edu
->>>>><<<<<-
Paderborner-SJ's Web Blog
