KARACHI: Pakistan based Tele health technology specialist organization EDUCAST, facilitates humanitarian efforts in war torn regions of Yemen with inauguration of first ever Tele Center in that country.
A Pakistani Digital Health Technology platform EDUCAST after successfully implementing Maternal Child TeleHealth service in Pakistan now moves in providing TeleHealth services in war torn areas of Yemen where there is humanitarian crisis ongoing.
With mothers and babies amongst the most highly vulnerable in Yemen, one in 37 new-born babies die in the first month of life and one out of every 260 women dies in pregnancy or childbirth, according to a UNICEF.
EDUCAST with its collaborators aim to save lives, through the use of technologies in healthcare, of thousands of pregnant women and infants in war inflicted zones of Maarib, Shugra, Zanjibar and Hadarul Maut with the help of female doctors based in Pakistan as well as from around the world.
The services, which have already benefited more than 200 people in just over a week, are available for free at the Maternal and Child Telecenter (MCT).
The MCT was established on January 27 by the EDUCAST Society, a non-profit wing of EDUCAST established in Pakistan in 2016. In less than four years EDUCAST is now the largest Female eDoctors network spread in all provinces as well as in 24 international destinations, the majority of these female Pakistani doctors are the ones who have been trained as telehealth clinicians working through virtual platforms.
EDUCAST with its academic collaborators, which include Dow University of Health Sciences Karachi, MedRet Academy UK, MedSmarter USA, DOGANA (Dow Graduate Association of North America), has managed to create especial online programs for retraining and then certification of these female doctors from around the globe. Following a successful running of training, after four years, the eDoctor program has over 1000 female doctors in its platform.
Islamic Development Bank has played a major role in supporting and encouraging this EDUCAST effort by providing grant for establishment of Maternal and Child Mortality prevention initiative through eDoctors. Thanks to IsDB support, which became very vital, as Covid-19 hit Pakistan, IsDB funded initiative of EDUCAST was already recertifying female doctors in large numbers. This was extremely helpful at the start of the Covid pandemic, when the Sindh Government was facing challenges in getting female doctors for isolation monitoring.
EDUCAST went ahead and offered its volunteer services along with 450 plus female eDoctors and its IsDB funded technology platform to support govt effort in tackling home isolation and contact tracing and monitoring drive.
Since April till date EDUCAST Covid-19 home isolation monitoring has handled a massive 150,000 plus Covid-19 positive patients successfully.
Looking at this innovative mode of handling the pandemic World’s top Medical School Stanford University’s Center for Medicine approached to help EDUCAST in training of the eDoctors. A six week online training was conducted by top faculty from Stanford on the latest guidelines from CDC (Centre for Disease Control, USA) and WHO which enabled all 450 eDoctors to be certified as Covid-19 Care givers.
These eDoctors have been serving their homeland from USA, Canada, Germany, Malaysia, Middle East and Europe in helping Govt of Sindh in the Covid-19 home isolation monitoring.
EDUCAST was approached by Yemen based organizations for help regarding maternal and child deaths due to non-availability of timely healthcare advise and virtual training of front-line workers.
EDUCAST through its Islamic Development Bank funded technology platform offered its support to establish a multipurpose telehealth centre in areas of Yemen affected by war to help needy people in healthcare services as well as training of the on ground front line female healthcare workers.
This Yemen ‘maternal & fetal wellbeing’ initiative is spear headed under the leadership of UK based MedRet Academy. MedRet Academy is presenting this project at the request of United Nations, WSIS (World Summit of Information Society) annual virtual conference 2021, at a high-profile sessions on use of technology in meeting today’s health challenges specially in developing world.
At the facility operational Hub in Karachi, a coordinator who is fluent in Arabic and English connects the patients with a tele clinic in Yemen, where women doctors from across Pakistan and 15 other countries including Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Canada, and the UAE provide free online consultations and treatment.
“The facility is offering live tele consultation to women and children through remote Pakistani female doctors using high-tech medical equipment,” said Abdullah Butt, CEO of EDUCAST. He said the response has been ‘overwhelming’.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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