The technology enables a doctor who is kilometres away to conduct an X-ray on a patient using wireless technology provided by the state commercial signal distributor, Sentech. The pilot project is being conducted in three clinics in Mpumalanga, which are also connected to the major hospital in the province.
Mckay Motshabi, the general manager of research development at Sita, said the study would enable patients from disadvantaged areas to receive access to quality medical services.
"Telemedicine is happening in the world," Motshabi said. The study, which would be completed in the next few months, would cost about R6 million.
In case of a power, systems or network failure, he said Sita had set disaster recovery centres throughout the country where it operated.
The telemedicine study is one of the e-government projects that Sita is running in partnership with the department of health and other stakeholders.
According to the World Bank group, e-government refers to the use of information and communications technologies to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability of government.
Together with the Centre for Public Service Innovation, Sita has completed a pilot project that involves the use of cellphone technology in medical services administration.
Motshabi said mobile technology was used to give nurses and doctors, on their own cellphones, access to electronic patient records that contain diagnoses, prescriptions and laboratory results in real time.
This enabled them to bypass the traditional method of queuing or waiting for these records to be generated.
Autor: Thabiso Mochiko
Quelle: Business Report, 09.02.2005
