By Ebuka Onyekwelu
The Government of Anambra State has brought innovation into the telemedicine introduced by the Soludo-led administration to strengthen health care delivery across the State. Telemedicine introduced by Governor Soludo’s government initially focused on hard-to-reach areas of the state, where access to qualified medical personnel was difficult. But now, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Afam Obidike, said the programme is being expanded to enable all residents to have easy access to quality medical personnel and improved health care.
According to the Anambra State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Afam Obidike, “We started telemedicine with the hub-and-spoke approach.” The hub has two medical doctors in each LGA in Anambra, while the spoke refers to the Primary Health Care centers with nurses or other health workers that are directly linked to the hubs. “What this means,” Dr. Obidike explained, “is that all the PHCs in Anambra State can access qualified medical doctors for accurate examination and proper medical care anywhere and at any time.” How it works is that when patients walk into a Primary Health Care centre in their locality and present a case, the nurse or health worker on duty reaches the hub with the aid of ICT gadgets and a doctor attends to the patient directly, online.
Speaking on why the expansion is necessary, Dr. Obidike said that it is necessary because every Anambra resident deserves quality medical care in line with the Soludo administration’s policy on health care. “We are expanding it so that every Anambra resident can access the hub, speak to a doctor, and get a correct prescription from qualified medical doctors. This will curb the issue of self-medication and abuse, in line with Governor Soludo’s programme on health care delivery,” Dr. Obidike said.
The Programme Officer, Dr. Ken Nwokolo, reiterated that with telemedicine, residents can access medical doctors 24 hours a day. Also, residents can access a doctor even if the doctors in their hub are offline. “It functions for 24 hours a day. Then, even if the doctors in your LGA are not online, you can access other doctors online and be attended to,” he assured.
