Nigeria grapples with basic hospital standards, which according to Dr. Lewis Oluwadamilola Akinola, Chairman, committee on medical education and standards of the Nigerian Medical Association is of grave concern , “The NMA are really worried about the state of our hospitals in Nigeria. The worry alarm is so audible, but incidentally the civil service bug of always noting all for action has eaten deep into our system, that hope of resuscitation is growing dim daily. The tertiary level of care is now overburdened with the provision of services that ordinarily is not their concern. It’s a shame. Patient care across government and private hospitals is most appalling. There’s no regard for the patients any longer, who pay through their nose to access basic health care needs.”On a visit to Federal Staff Hospital in Abuja, we met Rita Offor, who had brought her mum for the MOPD clinic session. She narrated her experience and explained how important 24 hours access to Healthcare is. “My Mother had coughed up blood in the middle of the night, upon seeing it, I wasn’t sure what to do. I felt handicapped. I don’t have relatives who are doctors and wasn’t sure if getting transport to the hospital at 2am would be possible.”
Rita further explains, “I used my phone to google possible causes. When I checked, I read that coughing up blood can be a sign of a serious medical condition such as cancer, or problems in blood vessels, lungs etc., I was worried and most of the websites indicated that coughing up blood generally required immediate medical evaluation. But my mum looked alright, she didn’t have a fever, she was calm. So I put it to God in prayer, I took the risk of waiting, then the first thing in the morning, I took her to the Hospital. I’ve been coming to Federal Staff for a week, we have done all the tests – so far, my mum has been stable. Honestly, that night I was worried, now, my worry is the amount I am incurring on the tests, with no concrete response. I still pray and will fulfil all obligations by seeing this Doctor. ”
Nigeria is yet to adopt a central emergency number, even if regions like Lagos State have a version of EMS systems where their emergency numbers, 767 and 112, redirect citizens to the Rapid Response Squad, the Police, Lagos State Ambulance Service and Lagos State Fire Service. Nonetheless, Rita’s approach by using the internet as a tool to provide a possible stop gap measure is one that has become increasingly popular. It is along these lines that one of the global milestones in medicine is e-Health which is facilitated by Information and Communications Technology, ICT to provide health care services. The adoption of E-health has demonstrated that the collaboration among health care institutions, professionals and providers can be diversified with promising results for patients.
As such, e-health has gained significant interest from concerned stakeholders who hope its development can ease the Health management constraints globally. For this reason, the World Health Organization has embraced E-health measures, explaining the term as the transfer of health resources and health care by electronic means. By WHOs characterization, it involves telemedicine and telehealth, or any health-related activities carried out over distance by ICT. E-health is now a recognized method for addressing health concerns, which experts believe will help to improve efficient use of information, money and medicines.
In Nigeria, the introduction of ICT to the health sector is relatively new, and there are untapped opportunities that can bridge the relationship deficits between patients and health service providers, and improve the performance and communications. A number of aspects that have delayed ICTs integration in the country’s healthcare system range from poorly managed facilities/infrastructure to bandwidth concerns. In 2012, a collaborative effort by the ministry of Health and Communication Technology with the support of the United Nations Foundation (UNF) lead to the establishment of the Save One Million Lives (SOMLs) initiative, which targets ICT use as a cornerstone to achieving Universal Health Care (UHC) in Nigeria in 2020.
The President, Society for Telemedicine and e-Health in Nigeria, Dr. Olajide Adebola explains that “There are many initiatives using phone consultation services to provide health information services to the public. Most GSMA operators have such services established. The medical community is receptive to the idea, but it must be done within the standard of operating procedure that guides privacy and confidentiality of such health information shared. Most care providers use voice communications as a means of follow up and consumers of health services reach out to them using similar means. What is missing is how is the Telecom operator ensuring that the information shared is kept within acceptable national and international privacy laws.”
One of the latest Tele-medicine approaches in the country is the brainchild of Dr. Ubiame Omas. A graduate of the University of Lagos and a Public Health Practitioner with a Masters in Public Health from Kings’ College London, she has worked for the Nigeria Ministry of Defence and started Public Health Partner on the simple principle of ‘Prevention is better than cure’. She explains that hers is a pilot public health initiative that promotes real-time coordinated clinical health services through telecommunications technology. The concept which is being designed as a central care call center will be manned by licensed health care professionals and aimed at offering clinic services – over the phone.
She explained that “the service is a social health initiative developed by Public Health Partner (PHP) as a ‘Tele-clinical care center’ offering tele-support services to people and patients alike mainly through clinical teleconsultations.” Dr. Omas hopes to make her initiative affordable to Nigerians and encourage relevant stakeholders to participate in making it easier for people to access medical needs across the country. “We know what the current situation is in our hospitals, what I aim to achieve is a seamless process where the doctor telecommutes with you through any health problems, concerns or questions, offering clarity and understanding, with a focus on working with you to find solutions to your problems, resolutions to your concerns and answers to your questions. My teleclinics will have general practitioners to disease specialists that will address public health needs and if needed – scheduled follow-up care or referrals” She said.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Communications Technology, Dr. Tunji Olaopa recently reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to that drive, suggesting that a national ICT health framework was underway to guide the deployment and utilization of ICT in health care, which the government hopes to make possible through synergies with all MDAs, as a strategic part of the effort of the SOMLs initiative of having UHC in the country in 2020. The Federal Government has also indicated that in partnership with its stakeholders, it hopes to assure that e-health practices in the country will enable health care providers optimize care solutions, whilst assuring the security and privacy of data, and ensuring the public of comprehensive care.
Source:Leadership Online
