The gift of IT that can save lives

Using telemedicine kit supplied by Computer Aid, staff in remote hospitals can provide specialists based elsewhere with all the information they need to make a diagnosis

Computing today launches its 2009 charity appeal, to raise money to equip 120 hospitals in rural Africa with life-saving telemedicine systems ­ and we want your help. Receiving medical assistance is a big problem when the nearest person who can diagnose and treat your condition is 300 miles away. In rural Africa, with a tiny number of specialist doctors covering vast areas with poor transport links, this is a reality for most people.

Computing has been supporting charity partner Computer Aid International to save lives by using IT to remove this logistical hurdle. By kitting out specialist health centres with something as simple as a laptop, digital camera and scanner, doctors can communicate with city hospitals to improve diagnosis and treatment (see below).

We have so far helped Computer Aid work with 40 centres across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia. But there are more than 80 hospitals that still need to introduce telemedicine.

This is where you can help. We would like to find Computing readers ­ as organisations or as individuals ­ who are willing to sponsor a telemedicine centre.

It costs just £1,000 to provide the equipment, training and technical support that a hospital needs to take part in this programme ­ a remarkably cost-effective way for your business to help thousands of disadvantaged people. It is also a great way of involving your employees in a fantastic project.

Computer Aid can tell you which hospital you have helped and work with you to publicise your support to your customers and staff. And Computing will publish a roll of honour listing all organisations and individuals that sign up to sponsor a telemedicine centre.

If you want to get involved, or find out more information, contact Stephen Campbell at Computer Aid on 020 8361 5540 or email stephen@computeraid.org. Or you can donate at: www.justgiving.com/computingtelemedicine

We will publish details of the appeal’s progress and tell you about everyone who signs up to sponsor a telemedicine centre. We look forward to hearing from you.

How telemedicine project is helping to fight disease and speed drug delivery

Makindu is a small district hospital in southern Kenya, the kind that the three-quarters of Africans who live in rural areas rely on as their only source of medical help. Dr Saidi, the medical superintendent, and his small team look after more than 260 patients a day. Makindu is also in one of the areas worst affected by some of Africa’s biggest killers: HIV/Aids, malaria and other tropical diseases.

Dr Saidi and his team are highly skilled but, like doctors anywhere, they sometimes need to consult specialists over conditions they are unable to diagnose and treat themselves.

Thanks to the Computer Aid telemedicine project, Dr Saidi can send pictures and x-rays to a network of specialists using a laptop, digital camera and scanner all provided by the charity. He can tap into a network of expertise and stand a better chance of a correct diagnosis to give patients the best opportunity for recovery.

“In many cases you reach a critical point – you’re stuck, you’re far from the city and far from the good facilities, so what do you do? This is my link, this is my lifeline for the patients,” said Dr Saidi.

And it is not just critical cases that the project helps, according to technical manager Frank Odhiambo.

“The project has cut drug delivery times from 28 days to just four. Patients can get the drugs they need on time and this cuts costs and eliminates a lot of waste.

“The internet connection at Makindu also means that patients no longer have to pay for any postal costs when they go for medical tests – and this has increased the number of people volunteering for HIV tests by 50 per cent since the introduction of telemedicine,” he said.

Hospitals use either VSat or GPRS systems to connect to the internet. They receive a subsidy to pay for internet connections and many have also set up cyber cafés as a way of generating income to meet the costs.

The first fibre-optic cable linking Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia with other African countries, Europe and India is set to go live this summer – bringing with it fast, reliable and affordable broadband to this corner of Africa for the first time. This represents a golden opportunity to introduce telemedicine into even more hospitals serving isolated communities such as Makindu.

To see how the telemedicine project works, watch the video at www.computing.co.uk/tv