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Telemedicine Project Targets Rural Areas in Northern Pakistan

Azhar,

FYI.

The State Department, IBM and other public and private organizations have launched a telemedicine project to treat patients in remote, medically underserved areas of Northern Pakistan, Government Health IT reports.

The Pakistan Telemedicine Project uses wireless broadband technology, video-conferencing and the Internet to connect the project's central coordinating facility at the Holy Family Hospital in Rawalpindi with a hospital in Attock District -- a rural area with few physicians and limited medical resources.

Since last August, the project has been running virtual clinics on dermatology and ear, nose and throat specialties, and performing radiology. It also has been providing virtual rounds to educate local health care providers.

Motorola and Pakistan-based Wateen Telecom are supplying the broadband technology for the project, while Medweb is providing telemedicine software, servers and input devices.

The U.S. Army's Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center will provide four medical consultants, including a trauma specialist, ophthalmologist and cardiologist. In addition, the U.S. Agency for International Development is providing $80,000 to cover the cost of two independent assessments of the project.

Pakistan was chosen as the site for the project because the government has difficulty delivering health care to a large portion of its population. More than 75% of the country's 173 million residents live in rural areas, but only 22% of its physicians practice in those areas (Hayes, Government Health IT, 10/9).

http://www.ihealthbeat.org/Articles/2008/10/9/Telemedicine-Project-Targets-Rural-Areas-in-Northern-Pakistan.aspx

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