ANAMBRA State is ready to introduce tele-medicine in the state’s health sector, ANAMBRA PEOPLE reports.
This was made known by the Commissioner for Health, Afam Obidike, at the just concluded end of project dissemination meeting organised by The Challenge Initiative (TCI), in collaboration with the state government last week.
Shedding more light in his keynote address, Dr Obidike stated that tele-medicine is when a patient will be at the comfort of his house and book medical appointment with a doctor in any part of the world. It allows long-distance patient and clinician contact, care, advice, reminders, education, intervention, monitoring and remote admission.
More so, the commissioner said that some partners came in from the United States and the UK and there’s already a positive discussion in respect of that.
He extolled the efforts of TCI in upgrading 45 facilities in 11 LGAs, thereby bringing quality health care delivery to many and benefitting the state in terms of data management in family planning and training of manpower personnel in the sector.
However, he mentioned that a system is already on ground by TCI and efforts are already on to cover up for the remaining 10 LGAs.
He stated that last four years, the state had improved tremendously in terms of family planning coverage and education of family planning, hence encouraging government for continuous partnership with TCI.
In her keynote address, the Executive Secretary/CEO, Anambra State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Chioma Ezenyimulu, commended activities of TCI in the state, especially in the implementation of the famous 72 hours makeover, where six PHCs were transformed, renovated and equipped. “As health workers left their PHCs on Friday upon their return to work on Monday, their centers were tremendously given a face-lift”.
Ezenyimulu said the importance of TCI cannot be over-emphasised as their activities have been helpful in terms of making women understand the advantages of time as they need time to plan, time to recover from one pregnancy before embarking on another as well as the economic implications both for the home and nation at large.
On his part, Director, The Challenge Initiative, Dr Victor Ighalo, congratulated the state government for the activities so far implemented. He however, commended the good partnership TCI had built and nurtured with the state and hoped the friendship will consolidate in near future.
The program, which was themed: “Journey Towards State Government Self-Reliance and Chronicles of Impact at Scale for Reproductive Health in Anambra State’, was graced by health personnel from across the state as well as Igwe Sir Bennett Izuchukwu Emeka (Oke Ebo of Umueri).
Highpoints of the event were presentation of awards, launch and dissemination of the chronicles of impact, AYSRH storybook and TCI playbook, dissemination of family planning costed implementation plan among others.
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