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10.02.2014 Feature Article

TELEMEDICINE FOR FAST-TRACT CONSULTATION

TELEMEDICINE FOR FAST-TRACT CONSULTATION
10.02.2014 LISTEN

Science and technology have had a radical impact on Zambia's economy and on the way of life of almost every one of her people. Increasingly, the ability to think scientifically and to understand scientific processes is becoming a condition for survival. The scientific outlook is becoming the hallmark of the approach to problem solving. National progress depends critically on the ability to adapt and use scientific and technological developments. The medical curriculum for all health professions need also to take this into account because digital technology is being embraced in this field at different levels from taking vital signs to internal body imaging.

The new field of medicine known as Telemedicine which started in the 1990s uses television or video links, e-mails, telephone or another telecommunication system to transmit medical information for medical consultation or supervision. In addition, advances in computer and Internet technologies have also created new possibilities for doctors/Nurses and their patients in using them to send live videos, sound, and high-resolution images between two distant locations for easy examination of patients in offices thousands of miles away. Rural patients will no longer have to make long trips into urban centers to consult specialists. Furthermore, discovery and utilization of information communication technology in the medical field is a sign of an emerging integration of social, economic, cultural and political technological forces in advocating for viable economically friendly medical solutions to the global health challenges.

In telemedicine we only need a computer fitted with special software and a video camera which turns a live video image of a patient/client into a digital signal. This signal is transmitted over high-speed telephone lines to similar equipment at the doctor's office, where it is converted back into a format that can be viewed live on a television screen. Telemedicine also includes machines specially designed to measure and record a patient's vital signs at home then transmit the information directly to a hospital nursing station. This electronic remote home care enables health care professionals to monitor a patient's heart rate, temperature, blood pressure, pulse, blood-oxygen levels, and weight several times a day, without the patient ever having to leave home.

In addition to providing a vehicle for doctors/Nurses and patients in remote locations to interact, telemedicine also enables doctors in distant locations to share information. Patient charts, X rays, and other diagnostic materials can be transmitted between doctors' offices. Moreover, doctors in rural areas of the world can observe state-of-the-art medical procedures that they would otherwise have had to travel thousands of miles to witness. For instance, some complicated cases like separation of first Siamese twins in Zambia were done with consultation with physicians' miles away from Africa and the operation was successful. The possibility and evidence of establishing a modern Telemedicine centre is quite visible but there have not been enough advocacies for this field of medicine to flourish in our country. There are a lot of trends that communicating devices have come with that would make e-health a reality in Zambia.

Video conferencing is yet another trend that has emerged with the coming in of information and communication technology. Video conferencing is a programme that enables to communicate with a person from a different country or place and time zone. It enables one to see the person they are talking to or sharing a conversation with. If we bring this technology to the medical field, we see that a physician from a different country might be giving consultation to clients in Zambia who are also able to see the consultant physician and ask questions. Tour to India for health (Tour2India4Health) is one of the health institutions that have the most advanced telemedicine system in the world with world class consultants attending to online free medical consultations from patients/clients that need specialist treatment. There fees are quite affordable as a lot of costs like travelling for consultation are done through cheaper forms of communication like Skype whilst transportation is done by a private jet to and from the health institution that provide the health services for those that inevitably require treatment. Zambia as a nation is also progressively retaining specialist doctors in different fields so that certain complex conditions can be managed locally to lessen on the burden of paying for outside treatment. Though still in its infancy , telemedicine may one day alleviate some of the regional inequalities inherent in modern medicine, not just between regions of medically advanced nations like India, but also between developing countries and urban medical centers in the industrialized world.

Zambia stands a better chance to develop modern system of Telemedicine looking at the length at which mobile phones have been used. During the last elections there was an improvement were the transmission of election results using mobile phones was concerned. People had access to the results no matter where they were; as long as they enrolled for this programme they were able to receive this information anywhere and at any time. Today we are talking about registered simcards and soon we may just be voting using the same phones. These developments serve on time as one can be working or doing his business but yet is enabled to receive these updates or services. Just in the same line, Zesco bills or water bills are being paid through the use of mobile phones. This has cut on the cost of moving long distances just to settle these bills. Unfortunately, our medical system does not have an ICT command centre for people to enroll for the medical condition of their own choice like diabetic patients enrolling for a program addressing their conditions unlike depending on the net where some information may be unverified and once they access such information it creates a constant dilemma on which path to take. If this was to be explored, it would help our citizens to get information tailored for their condition and suited for their national policy framework.

Medical students have also benefited from use of ICT or Mobile phones. Mobile phones are connected devices of convenience, that is, they are used for communicating, messaging, quick information access such as the time and weather, and for personal organization as well as entertainment including games. Medical students have made use of mobile phones to browse on the internet to access some information in cases of assignments. They have been enabled to access information very quickly and without being inconvenienced unlike using internet cafes. Finding and gathering information using ICT has enabled faster access to resources, costs less and time saving for researchers. However, as devices of convenience and personal organization, they can be useful in education for a number of organizational functions such as notifying absences, timetables, reminders, deadlines, tracking of library loans using RFID6, games and more.

Mobile phones have also been used successfully for language learning and listening to lectures and speeches using podcasts to mobile phones. The release on the market of video capable mobile phones such as the Apple, iPhone may also realise more experimentation and trials of mobile phones in medical networking. Mobile phones however, lack connectivity such as adapters and ports with the result that their productivity potential will remain limited into the foreseeable future and they will remain devices of convenience, personal organization and entertainment for Secondary school students. If they are to be useful in this health conscious world, manufacturers should also concentrate in adding to their software features that help for body analysis like taking temperature, foretelling personalized menstrual cycle, taking pulse, measuring body mass index, measuring blood sugar levels, measuring blood pressure, body scanning, screening for malaria, drug detection etc. Fortunately, some mobile phone manufacturers have included some of these features to their software but the price for such devices are still very expensive for ordinary individuals in a developing nation like Zambia.

The future is moving towards social operating systems which will focus on relationship and connections instead of concepts and objects. As well as engaging with networks of likeminded individuals or communities of interest, users will also be able to gain a map of publications, networks, writing, photos, blogs comments and more about an individual science and technology which promotes the economic growth, through which the emotional quest for a sense of personal value is satisfied and then creates the weapons by which the state protects itself. Through knowledge attained in science and technology man has devised and created sophisticated devices like computed tomography acronym CT scan machine which are used positively in the diagnosis of clients/patients. It is now clearly evident that the medical field cannot do away from ICT and other ministries where e-governance should be promoted to address community to individual concerns on matters affecting our society either through Facebook clinics or other social platforms.

This article you are from reading was typed using a computer and there are many more useful ICT devices that may be used to communicate e-health messages like this one. Therefore, what we need as a country is to formulate a policy that would allow people enroll for programs that address their health conditions. Unfortunately, there is a weak stakeholder base to 'champion' the cause of, and advocate for enhanced ICT capabilities in all sectors of the economy especially the medical sector. The constraints and problems in themselves are opportunities that must be taken advantage of in addressing the reengineering of the entire medical sector with popular participation of the entire stakeholder fraternity. If the challenges of digital opportunities are well addressed, it will give Zambians the chance to break the prison walls of isolation and exclusion from the global economy and to join the race for sustainable development based on efficient use of ICT in the medical sector.

JONES H. MUNANG'ANDU (author)

Motivational speaker, health commentator &
Health practitioner
Email; [email protected]
Skype id; jones .muna

Editor's Note:

Leadership has a strong bearing on body stress psychologically and mentally.

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