The Sunday Mail
l Upgrades to E-health
THE newly opened Mbuya Dorcas Hospital has partnered telecommunication services provider Tel-One for broadband connection and Virtual Private Network (VPN) —a private network that extends across a public network.The hospital is a brainchild of Zaoga Foward in Faith Church.
VPN enables the users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices are directly connected to the private network.
The connection is set to ease business at the hospital as all operations will now be connected to a single server.
Doctors will also be able to monitor or diagnose patients from a lab monitor.
In an interview with The Sunday Mail Religion, TelOne board chairman, Engineer Charles Shamu said his company is contributing towards the attainment of the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zimasset)’s objectives.
“We are moving in the right direction, this speaks to Zim Asset and the need for infrastructure development as well as health delivery,” Eng Shamu said.
He noted that Mbuya Dorcas Hospital was picked for the pilot project because of its uniqueness.
“Mbuya Dorcas Hospital has its own laboratories within the hospital complex, which makes it unique,” he said.
Eng Shamu said if the church builds remote clinics across the country in future, they can all be connected to Mbuya Dorcas Hospital via VPN.
“If a patient visits one of the remote clinics, a doctor at Mbuya Dorcas Hospital can easily diagnose him or her using the VPN technology. The doctor will just enter into the hospital’s main computer room, sit in front of a video monitor lab and communicate with the patient via a system that is just like Skype. The doctor can do a diagnosis and treat the patient through the system.
“With e-health, patients in remote clinics do not need to come to Harare for everything,” he said.
Eng Shamu said Tel One has also devised a hand tag that can be connected to the broadband data base to measure blood pressure and sugar levels.
“In the event that the levels are high, the tag will send a text message notifying the patient to visit the nearest medical facility,” he explained.
TelOne has also been providing broadband services at mega conferences for churches such as the Zion Christian Church (ZCC), Apostolic Faith Mission and Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries, among others.
Apart from the medical facility, Mbuya Dorcas Hospital also has a non-medical wing that emphasises on healing and deliverance.
The hospital was officially opened last month by the First Lady, Dr Amai Grace Mugabe.
