The ICT Trust Fund has launched the Telemedicine initiative, with the aim to improve the quality of healthcare services, using technological solutions, and increase access to health services in remote and marginalized areas.
This comes within the framework of the strategy of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) for supporting sustainable development efforts, with the participation of all state institutions and civil society. It also comes in light of the strategic aspects of Egypt's Vision 2030, especially the health pillar, as one of the social aspects, set to improve healthcare as a national priority; as well as the effective role of ICT in developing the infrastructure of health services.
In partnership with a number of stakeholders in health, at the international, regional and local levels, including Arab Gulf Programme for Development (AGFUND), the Arab Medical Union, local NGOs and Kasr Al-Aini Hospital, the project was able to create a comprehensive model that helps achieves rapid telemedicine solutions for patients and doctors using the system.
The project, in addition, helped provide a practical model that achieves decent profits for the beneficiaries, ensuring sustainable access to health services in the local community on a large scale.
Objectives:
- Implementing cloud telemedicine solutions, based on the information center established at MCIT
- Expanding the health services network to provide greater access to these services
- Building the training capacities of the health sector personnel
Work in the telemedicine project started in 2008 through the comprehensive technological development project in Siwa Oasis, followed by the same project in Nuba, Aswan, in 2013.
The project operates through a number of pillars that target citizens, doctors and the health infrastructure. The aim is to improve the quality of healthcare services to advance citizens’ health, especially in remote and marginalized areas. This is implemented through the following:
- Reducing the high costs of health services in remote areas, saving time, effort, and long-distance travel
- Providing the opportunity for doctors in remote areas to improve their performance and exchange experiences through a continuous educational process
- Promoting medical technological solutions by establishing telemedicine units in remote areas, as well as creating an electronic database for medical records and reports to help improve the efficiency of managing health sector resources, in terms of human capital and technology.
Given the efficiency and effectiveness of the project, the project was adopted as a national presidential initiative, to include 300 telemedicine units, nationwide. Relevantly, a trilateral cooperation protocol for providing health expertise and advice to citizens through telemedicine applications, was signed between MCIT, the Ministry of Health and Population, and the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.
The main objective of the protocol is to leverage the role of ICT to support the health system and capitalize on the resources available to the ministries involved, with working on integrating, them to improve the quality of health services rendered to citizens and help facilitate their lives, as well as improving the quality of healthcare services nationwide using ICT.
This is in addition to providing high-quality medical diagnostics service to marginalized and underserved areas, improving the scientific level of doctors and honing their skills through enabling communication among health service providers, sharing experience, exchanging knowledge and raising doctors’ efficiency in telemedicine services.
