Anambra State Governor, Prof Charles Soludo, has promised that the state government will in two weeks’ time launch telemedicine as part of plans to boost healthcare delivery in the state.
He said the new medical approach was to make up for the deficit in healthcare professionals in the state.
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The Commissioner for Health, Dr Afam Obidike, disclosed this at the monthly meeting of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Anambra State council on Thursday.
According to him, the initiative would increase access and improve healthcare delivery in the state.
Telemedicine is the use of telecommunication technology to remotely diagnosis and treat patients from any location.
The governor noted that the initiative could be through telephone conversation, e-mail or instant messaging conversation.
He said, “It is an innovative way of getting access and delivering healthcare through digital devices such as the mobile device and computers.
“We are aware that we have shortage of health personnel in some hospitals when we took over office. We cannot prevent the issue of brain drain, but we are not perturbed.
“This is why Gov. Charles Soludo is working to ensure that Anambra becomes one of the states to implement what we call telemedicine.
“Telemedicine can prospectively improve the health and well-being of people by making up for the shortage in healthcare personnel, reduce delays in accessing healthcare due to distance and increase access to quality health.
“We have reached advanced stage of the agreement with some partners that came in from U.S. and UK recently and we are having positive discussions.”
The commissioner also said that the Ministry of Health was waiting for the governor’s approval to commence employment of health personnel.
“I have visited about six general hospitals unannounced since I resumed office and it is so sad to see that some hospitals do not have doctors, while some workers do not report to work.
“So, in terms of monitoring of health personnel, we are planning to have a health management information system in hospitals whereby workers will clock-in and it will reflect attendance to work.
“Our plan is to give residents of Anambra quality healthcare,”he added.
