KARACHI: In partnership with the government, ChildLife Foundation has successfully provided 100,000 free telemedicine consultations to the children in rural areas of Pakistan through its telemedicine network.

According to a statement issued by ChildLife Foundation, the telemedicine network was established in 2017 which covers all 30 districts of Sindh and 33 districts of Balochistan through 60 telemedicine satellite centers (TSCs). ChildLife also managed 11 children’s Emergency Rooms (ERs) in government tertiary care hospitals across the country.

Dr Ahsan Rabbani, CEO of ChildLife said: “At ChildLife ERs based in urban centers, we witnessed a significant influx of patients from rural regions, where there is a lack of senior doctors. Children were forced to travel long distances in extreme sickness. Delays in transport would often worsen their condition and their parents would take on huge debts just to meet the travel costs. Two-thirds of Pakistanis live in rural areas and our telemedicine network empowers us to help them. Through it, we can reach children where they are—in the district or tehsil hospital nearest to their homes—so they can get the right medical help at the right time, and with minimal costs”.

He said adopting a technology-first approach, ChildLife launched its telemedicine hub-and-spoke model under which HD cameras and IP phones are installed in district headquarter hospitals (DHQs) and tehsil headquarter hospitals, turning them into Telemedicine Satellite Centers (TSCs). The TSCs have 24/7 access to experienced doctors based in Karachi’s Civil Hospital.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022