19TH FEBRUARY 2002
Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen
It is a pleasure for me to share this important day with you when we take a major step in the implementation of Telemedicine in South Africa. This is an important day for the Free State and as you have said that a new chapter in training is about to start. That new chapter is the opening of this satellite based training center.
The Free State has given real meaning to the definition we adopted at the first national Telemedicine Conference in November 2000. As you will recall that definition we adopted was "TeleHealth", which includes both the practice of Telemedicine and the use of the very same equipment for Distance Learning.
This system allows students from remote classrooms across the province to access the best training using the ICAM or through the closed health broadcast channel.
In many countries with functional Telemedicine systems, it is the patient interaction with a specialist, in the presence of a local physician during the consultation that provides the best quality of care and great confidence in the eyes of the patient. It is the ability of the family physician to be the patient's advocate, in the specialist environment, that builds confidence and trust during the distant tele-consultation.
In the near future it must also be possible for this project to have full interactive demonstrations from the patient bedside on difficult procedures. Rural practitioners have to be part of grand ward rounds at the Academic Hospital and actively participate and share their problems with a number of colleagues. Our rural practitioners must have access to these highly specialized services without having to travel away from their own patients.
The challenge I wish to pose to you is that once you have mastered the scheduling of the various types of lessons and understood the use of the system, you should focus on using this technology to directly enhance the health care delivery.
I have been informed that this technology can be extended across the whole of the country at minimal cost. This is because the satellite broadcast that you are using from SENTECH, our national broadcaster, has a footprint that is wider than the Free State Province. In actual fact once you have a satellite dish, decoder and television set you can participate in these lessons from outside of the Free State province.
If the major costs are already covered, then the use of the system to benefit other SADC countries is no longer just a dream. You have ICAM for all the citizens of this province and, you must lead us in establishing Health-CAM for SADC region.
As we develop and improve our systems, we need to think much broader and consider our role within the SADC region and the rest of the African continent. Last weekend I was at Massena in the Northern province where we opened a roadside, primary health care and STI clinic for truck drivers travelling across our border with Zimbabwe. We will be inviting the Ministers of Health from Zimbabwe and Zambia to officially open the services of the clinic to people from the two countries who use this route. It is these projects that can and will make an impact on development and contribute to the broader agenda of the New Partnership for African Development. In addressing a developmental agenda the investment in health allows for many gains and the education of Health Care Workers promises the most rewards.
Over the past few years our country has been through a very exciting process of transformation, with a most pressing issue being how to balance increasing healthcare needs with scarce resources. This Information and Communication Technology is promising to addressed some of these problems and even create efficiencies that will lead to improved and more accessible service.
In February 1995, the then Deputy President Thabo Mbeki was the first leader from a developing to be invited to address the G7 summit. At that gathering, the President made a statement to the developed world, stating that there were more telephone lines in Manhattan than in the whole of sub Saharan Africa. He also remarked that more than half of humanity had never made a telephone call. He further challenged the G7 to come up with concrete efforts and initiative to develop an information society in Africa. This led to the African Information Society Development initiative and the Conference on Information Society and Development held in Midrand.
It was at that conference where telemedicine, as part of the National Health Information System of South Africa (NHIS/SA) was put firmly on the agenda and has resulted in the delivery of the existing 30 sites throughout the country.
In 1999 the Department of Health started the implementation of a telemedicine pilot project, with the aim of making use of these information and telecommunications technologies to provide medical information and services at a distance. This technology bridges the gap between the highly specialized and curative services located in urban areas and the poorly resourced health services in most rural areas. It promises to provide a way of sharing skills and cutting through the problems caused by geographic isolation, scarcity of doctors, skilled nurses and poor transport and infrastructure. It will take time for us to eliminate the backlog we have inherited but the use of the satellite system in education must be fully exploited to speed up this process.
The delivery of the terrestrial networks, the land lines and ISDN is difficult and even more so when we try to reach the most remote areas. Therefore this application, a satellite application, affords us instant access to almost any of our facilities. It is true that the 'interactive' ability of the system is limited to voice and some data, but with the rapid improvements in the technologies this should not be a major impediment.
I would like to congratulate this province for being at the forefront of adapting telecommunication technology to the health system. You have already achieved electronic-connectivity to all your health facilities and indeed consolidated your gains in ensuring improved Internet access. I am told that for the last few years, all your circulars are being delivered electronically.
Your contribution to the development and implementation of telemedicine especially the Tele-Radiology application is recognized. I have been asked to make special mention of Marie Bruwer and Dr Ron Chapman who have worked hard to kick-start this programme.
The NHIS/SA committee conceived the use of satellite broadcasting and in 2000 a memorandum of understanding was signed between the National Department and SENTECH, our national broadcaster or signal carrier for TV1 TV2 and TV3. The purpose was to establish a digital satellite based closed health broadcast channel to meet the tremendous need for access to health education, training and professional development by health care professionals. You are now the leaders in this important project and I offer my support and that of my Cabinet colleague, Minister Matsipe-Casburi in ensuring that this project is a success.
Development of information technology for use by our frontline workers is also being echoed elsewhere in the public service and has become an urgent government priority. The opportunity to harness this technology to improve access to quality health care for all our citizens, in line with the Batho-Pele principles, must be pursued by all of us.
Our Government is committed to improving the lives of the poor and to reduce the gap separating them from those with better access to various services. This project begins to demonstrate the closing of this "Digital Divide" between people in remote areas and those living in big cities.
Free State has taken an idealistic vision and delivered a tangible tool to ensure that this equity gap or in this instance, the vast distance between your urban and rural facilities is reduced. I have no doubt that you will be successful in this venture.
This project will assist us in addressing the high level of staff turnover in rural areas. It will attract and retain health professionals in these areas by providing ongoing training and collaboration with other health professionals and more importantly allows for training to be done without the loss of valuable time and resources.
With the second phase of the telemedicine project being implemented, all 8 medical schools in the country have offered to join hands with us and provide the educational component of the distance learning.
While continuing to gain ground in increasing access and equity in the health sector, we have to also focus more attention on the quality of health we deliver. Telemedicine and TeleHealth offer an opportunity to improve efficiency throughout the health care system. The health sector has always sought to make use of new and innovative technologies in delivering better health services and the Information technologies will assist in improving and supplementing traditional methods of dealing with health issues.
You will test this innovation and you will guide us as to the best ways of extending it. The roll out of this service should ensure an improvement in the quality of care that we deliver to our citizens. I wish to take this opportunity compliment the management and staff of ICAM, the Provincial Office and the head of Department for the excellent work done and wish you well in this very important project.
In conclusion Honorable MEC for Health, here in the Free State, Ms Ouma Tsopo, as we proposed in 2000 the Telemedicine Project as our contribution to the African Renaissance, I propose that ICAM should become our contribution for NEPAD, a contribution to the New Partnership in African Development.
I thank you for your attention and I wish you all the best in this endeavor.