Thursday, October 24, 2013

India envoy advocates telemedicine for Nigeria

DigitalSENSE Business News


The India High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Mahesh Sachdev has advocated that Nigeria should embrace telemedicine as a faster and more accessible means of treatment of ailments in the country.

DigitalSENSE Business News reports that Sachdev made the call at the launch of a telemedicine centre in Abuja, recently, noting that India has made use of the facility to cater for about 1.2 billion of its population.

“Telemedicine is essentially an exercise, enabling the advancement of the telecoms sector, to provide enhanced healthcare and assistance. And, I wonder how many of you know that the first use of Tele medicine was in Africa, by Africans centuries ago.

“Telemedicine has enormous platform to launch various devices and methodology ranging from consultation with the doctor, to the diagnostics. So, if we can have the understanding of daily medical care extended to the nooks and crannies of Nigeria in telecoms and broadband, things will inevitably become better, I believe this will also help Nigeria to use its healthcare facilities more efficiently”, he said .

Sachdev also said that the centre which is procured by Dr. Hassan’s Clinic and Diagnostic Centre, in Abuja would also create developmental environment in the nation’s telecoms industry.

The Medical Director of the Diagnostic Centre and National President, Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria, Dr. Godswill Okara, explained that the clinic initiated the process of setting up a molecular diagnostics unit, and then the infrared painless, bloodless surgery for haemorrhoids.

 “What we do is get the doctor outside the country to see the patient here through this facility; and then the doctor can say this is what to do. It reduces cost for the patient even if they have to travel because they have seen their doctor here and has been given the necessary advice. The Tele-medical facility gives the opportunity of consulting with specialists around the world, you can have an x – ray done in Jalingo, it is sent online, and then, the doctor probably has a printed copy. This makes the medical process faster and you bring the medical facilities together, around the patient,” Okara said.


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Pix: India High Commissioner to Nigeria,Mr Mahesh Sachdev

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