Family Health hospital launches telemedicine centre
A telemedicine centre has been launched at the Family Health hospital in Accra to help people gain access to specialty experts and also improve medical education in the country.
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The facility, which is equipped with video-conferencing system and screen monitors, would also enhance medical training at Ghana’s first private medical school, Family Health Medical and Nursing Schools, which are part of the Family Health Group.
The telemedicine centre was established through a collaboration between the Family Health Group Apollo Hospital in India, and Airtel Ghana.
With the introduction of the facility, patients do not have to travel outside the country to seek such specialist care.
All that the patient needs to do is to book an appointment with the hospital for a live medical consultation with world-class doctors in India and USA.
Commendation
The Minister of Education, Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, commended the president of the Medical school, Prof. Yao Kwawukume and his management team for the bold innovation to aid patients and medical students in Ghana.
She urged management to use the telemedicine to share knowledge and also contribute towards ensuring quality health care delivery in the country.
“Telemedicine expands the sharing of information towards improving healthcare delivery,’’ the minister emphasised.
She said the collaboration between the Medical school and Apollo hospitals in India was a good example of South-South co-operation.
Linkages
For his part, Prof. Kwawukume stated that the telemedicine would enable the group to communicate effectively with their counterparts in Asia, Britian, South Africa and the USA.
‘’We would in due course link up with our affiliate university, the University of Ghana School of Medicine and Dentistry at Korle Bu,’’ he disclosed.
Prof. Kwawukume further indicated that, ‘’Telemedicine will also be used to seek a second opinion in the health sector so that in cases of doubtful diagnosis, we can discuss our problems with the rest of the world, especially our doctors in the diaspora who have already shown a lot of interest in joining us to teach our medical students.’’
The immediate Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Ernest Aryeetey, stated that technology had made significant difference in education and also improved interactions between students and their lecturers.
He commended Prof. Kwawukume for his visionary leadership.
In a related development, Prof. Kwawukume has been honoured at the Impact Africa Summit for his contributions to the development of the country’s sector.
