The Free State Health Department will spend over R3.5 million to roll out telemedicine solutions in the next financial year, in an effort to improve service delivery.
The department says it has made funding available for telemedicine units in five regional hospitals: the Bongani, Dihlabeng, Boitumelo, Mofumahadi Manapo Mopeli, Diamant and Jagersfontein hospitals.
“It is a true fact that our healthcare environment stretches the abilities of the available healthcare professionals to their limit. It is a priority to optimally utilise the available health professionals and to subsequently use all technological resources at our disposal,” says the department.
Telemedicine rooms will be established at each site to house the equipment. The solutions, which will use different communications networks, will include video conferencing, three cameras, a codec unit for transmitting video and data over telephone and ISDN lines, touch panels, and basic computing equipment.
The department opened its first telemedicine site in March 2009, at Botshabelo Hospital. The Public Healthcare telemedicine partnership was an initiative between the Free State Department of Health, MTN SA Foundation and the Medical Research Council.
“Telemedicine is no longer a technology awaiting application. Rather, this clinical tool, which has been utilised in actual patient care for many phases, is now ready for widespread implementation as the equipment has advanced to the point where its applications are practical and potentially cost-effective,” says the department.
Improving efficiency
The equipment will also be used in mobile telemedicine stations that can be used for education, communication and information purposes by the rural community tele-centres.
The department says once regional sites have been connected, the project will be dedicated to establishing additional networks. Connecting remote rural clinics to surrounding secondary medical centres through microwaves and mobile radio communications infrastructure will be investigated.
National health minister Aaron Motsoaledi previously stated telemedicine would be used to ease patient backlogs facing hospitals. While general budgetary and resource limitations were an issue, the technologies would help the department reduce expenses and improve its service delivery, he added.
In 1998, the national department implemented a three-year telemedicine pilot project. Since the end of the three-phase pilot project, in 2002, government has been implementing the system in clinics and hospitals across the country.
“The telemedicine programme will contribute directly and indirectly to our patients and members of the community through reducing long queues at specialist clinics; reducing waiting periods via a booking system; better case management and limited administrative procedures. On the whole, the system allows us to work more efficient and effectively,” says the department.
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