Mahiri Mobile Delivering Lifesaving Healthcare in Rural Ghana
Partnership with telmedx™ Serves Patients in Remote Areas Tamale and Nsawam, Ghana – December 11, 2013 – Doctors at hospitals in Tamale and Nsawam, Ghana, are delivering new levels of lifesaving healthcare to remote areas of the country without traveling to see patients in person. Mahiri Mobile Services of Accra has outfitted nurses in rural villages with wireless tablets that deliver high quality, live medical-grade video™ back to the doctors in Tamale and Nsawam for medical advice. A wide variety of illnesses and medical conditions are being treated that would otherwise not be cared for, ranging from skin disorders and infections to neurological conditions to maternity and pre-natal care. “We are now addressing some of the cases that would not have come to the hospital due to a lack of money for travel or a lack of knowledge about access to our hospital,” stated Dr. Sophie Winful at Nsawam District Hospital in eastern Ghana. Patients are seen at home, in remote clinics, in schools or in community gatherings by traveling nurses trained to use the new technology. This mobile video platform was developed by telmedx of San Diego, California, and it allows a doctor on a web browser to examine patients over the high-resolution cameras of mobile phones and tablets for live, real-time consultations. Doctors can also take high-resolution photos of patient conditions from a web browser by remotely controlling the back cameras of wireless phones and tablets. The live video and still photos appear side-by-side on a computer screen, and the photos can easily be saved into medical records by the doctors. Nurses responsible for visits to homes, schools, mobile clinics, community gatherings, child welfare clinics and emergency delivery are excited about the new mobile video platform they are using. “This has boosted home visits and school health service visits, and we now know more about ailments and skin disorders that occur out in the rural villages,” stated one field nurse with Nsawam District Hospital. The telmedx mobile video platform also allows multiple doctors or specialists to watch the same live video, and each doctor can capture their own still photos for closer analysis, making consultations seamless. “This is a cheaper alternative for addressing people in remote areas. Specialists would otherwise need to travel long distances to those areas, which can even require using helicopters or having to tar the roads leading to a village,” stated Dr. Adam Abass, Consultant Neurosurgeon at Tamale Teaching Hospital in northern Ghana. The mobile telemedicine program has been underway in Ghana for several months, and has already received high praise and recognition by doctors for the quality of the video and photos. “The video resolution and image quality delivered by the telmedx platform are unparalleled,” stated Diana Dwamena, founder of Mahiri Mobile. “At first the doctors and nurses were sceptical, but now they realize that this technology helps them deliver the quality of care they desire. This is the way forward.” Mahiri Mobile has also developed a system that enables nurses to gather patient information and assign patient records using the telemedicine platform. In less than two months, more than 250 patients have been treated with the Mahiri-telmedx system. Otherwise these patients would not have had the benefit of real-time direct doctor involvement. Doctors and nurses are not the only people excited about what the Mahiri system has been able to do for healthcare delivery. Patients have also been fully engaged with the nurses and doctors and often want to see themselves on the mobile tablets and show the doctors other possible medical conditions about themselves. “For the community, patients can be comforted by the knowledge that the doctor is seeing them live, and by knowing that they will be seen by a specialist. They are excited to know that someone in the “big hospital” is coming to see them, and that has a positive psychological effect,” stated Dr. Abass. About Mahiri Mobile Services Mahiri Mobile of Accra, Ghana is a wireless communications provider that delivers application solutions for the workforce on the move. Mahiri provides relevant, agile and cost effective solutions to meet customer needs. More information on the company is available at www.mahirimobile.com. About telmedx With headquarters at the Janssen Labs West Coast Research Center in San Diego, CA, telmedx provides live high quality live medical-grade video™ from wireless phones and tablets to any web browser. The company’s HIPAA/HITECH and EU-compliant telemedicine platform helps reduce costs, increase efficiency, manage risk and create new revenue opportunities for healthcare providers. More information is available at www.telmedx.com.
Examples of photos remotely taken by doctors using the telmedx platform are shown below:
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