E-Health workshop attracts key stakeholders
6 October 2005

The Meraka Institute, in partnership with the Regional Impact of Information Society Technologies in Africa (IST-Africa) initiative, and the Eastern Cape Health Department hosted an e-Health workshop in the Eastern Cape, from 21 to 23 September 2005. The workshop was opened by the Eastern Cape MEC for Health, Dr Bevan Goqwana and attended by representatives from the National Department of Health, the Presidential National Committee on Information Society and Development (PNC on ISAD), the Lesotho Health Ministry, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The workshop, held at the East London Health Resource Centre, focused on raising e-Health awareness and the training of health workers. Dr Goqwana expressed his full support for the workshop and stressed that similar workshops should be held in Umtata, as it is more accessible to rural areas. “This augurs well for the replication of the workshop in other provinces within our country, and other Southern Africa countries, in line with IST-Africa objectives,” says Meraka Institute’s Chris Morris.

In line with this particular vision, the Eastern Cape Health Department revealed at the workshop that it plans to roll-out e-Health activities to 200 clinics in the province. Included in the roll-out is e-mail/Internet access, hardware distribution and training in teledermatology.

The Department, which recently finalised its strategic plans and budgets, also requested motivations for hardware and training from the delegates on the last day of the workshop. “Delegates had to motivate why they believed eHealth could be useful in their health centres,” Morris explains. The Meraka Institute will continue to monitor and evaluate the eHealth project roll-out process and this feedback will be used in the comparative research reports to be submitted to IST-Africa.

Current e-Health projects in the Eastern Cape are concentrated in the Tsilitwa area. . That project was opened by Dr Goqwana in 2002, and enables rural health workers to communicate with and access information from urban medical experts using alternative communications infrastructure. The alternative communications infrastructure in this rural community is independent of the national telecommunications network and supports improved healthcare and local economic development. The infrastructure comprises a rural intranet, created through cost-effective, wireless technology developed by the Meraka Institute. The broadband wireless system enables data (e-mail), voice (Voice over Internet Protocol) and video communications (digital imaging).

Workshop delegates will meet again in six months to give feedback on the progress of the eHealth implementation at their facilities.

Coordinators of the E-Health workshop (back row) Antonio Bancora (Intern), Saloshni Naidoo (Meraka Institute), Madelein van den Berg (Meraka Institute), Prof Maurice Mars (University of KwaZulu Natal), Chris Morris (Meraka Institute). (Front Row) Dr Rolene Wagner, MEC for Health EC, Dr Bevan Goqwana, Ajay Makan (Meraka Institute), Dr Rajeev Eashwari (Chief Superintendent CMH)	Prof Maurice Mars, demonstrates the uses of teleophthalmology to a workshop delegate	Dr Sinclair Wynchank discusses issues around e-Health with workshop participants.