In an effort to make engineering relevant to the society, the Electrical Engineering department at the Malawi Polytechnic, a constituent college of the University of Malawi has been running the Wireless Network for Health Applications project since mid 2006. This work is being done with collaboration from the Radio Communications Unit, Aeronomy and Radio Propagation Laboratory, Abdus Salam ICTP, Trieste, Italy.
The goal of this project is to improve the delivery of health services by improving access to information and timely communication through low cost wireless-based communication network and basic telemedicine applications in the city of Blantyre. Some of the specific objectives of the project include the following:
- To improve access to information and ease of communication for the delivery of health services through increased Internet connectivity bandwidth, low cost wireless-based network and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP);
- To use basic telemedicine applications for the delivery of health services, such as exchange of medical records, statistics, epidemic surveillance data, transmission of X-rays; and consultations with specialists through email; thus availing expert opinion at the which otherwise is available only at referral hospitals
- To increase knowledge and skills of staff at Ndirande and Limbe health centres in City of Blantyre on how to use ICT facilities for the delivery of health services.
- To develop an appropriate model for wireless-based communication network for health applications to be replicated in other areas.
The project is comprised of two phases: network implementation and installation of telemedicine applications. The first phase involved the development of a wireless network connecting Ndirande and Limbe Health Centres to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH), the biggest hospital in the City of Blantyre, through the Polytechnic. As of now, it is possible to access the Internet from the two health centres through the Polytechnic as a gateway. The Blantyre Malaria Project (BMP) housed within the premises of Ndirande Health Centre can upload research data to their server in USA. It is also possible to make VoIP phone calls between the two health centres and QECH.
Now that I am back to the land of the lake, I am pleased to let you know that I am part of this project. As the project goes into the second phase, there is a need for collaboration with organizations or institutions which specialize in telemedicine applications. As we mind more about the communication aspects of the project, you can help us with the telemedicine aspects of the same. If you are either part of or you know such organizations or institutions, please get in touch with me through nyirendac at gmail.com.
9 users commented in " Wireless Network for Health Applications project at the Malawi Polytechnic "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackHi there. I’m here again as I promised. This will be my nth time attempt to leave you a comment. Hope this will work.
I appreciate the simplicity of your blog. Simple but looks elegant.
Congratulations for being a part of such a wonderful project. Goodluck to your project and your blogging! Cheers.
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Hello there. I am a network engineer too here in my country. Great to know about your projects in Malawi. Truly, the people in your country will greatly benefit from these technologies. Wireless applications are getting very popular nowadays. Regards to you.
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i am an IT officer too…and currently my company also having a wifi project, soon will share with all my reader in my blog too…nice to know your project…
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Hi, your blog seems to be really nice!! Are you interested in exchanging links? My blog is at http://changingtechnology.blogspot.com/ and it’s about the latest gadgets and the technology used. Do let me know if you are interested. I too will put up a link to your blog on mine. Thanks.
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1. Rocky, thanks for the visit and the good comments.You have turned out to be my greatest discovery in blogosphere this week. I really enjoy reading your posts. I have already learnt lots of tips.
2. Orca and icalvyn, nice to see that we are in the same field. I will be frequenting your blogs to learn the projects that you are doing.Thats the goodness of blogging!
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4.Abishek Khrishnan, thanks a lot for the request.Much as I need links, I do not just exchange for the sake of exchanging. If I pick out something interesting from your blog, I will link up. Otherwise we can suggest a common blogging front and in due course, exchange the links. What do u think? This is a deliberate policy in order to keep my reader community.
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That’s great, I never thought about in health like that before.
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This is great stuff! I organise an annual conference in Kenya named AFRIHealth.The conference is a venue for researchers and practitioners in healthcare in Africa to share ICT developments in healthcare which improve patient safety. I would like a presentation on the Baobab project this year.
The last two years conferences have been very exciting. Any other projects using ICT to improve healthcare will be welcome at AFRIHealth 2009 in July.
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Clement Nyirenda says:
March 26th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
@John: I have sent your contact details to the guys at Baobab Health in Malawi. They should be contacting you anytime from now.
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Please use your name when commenting. Using just keywords makes your comment seem spammy, and it's liable to get deleted. Please read my comment policy for more details. Many thanks for your cooperation!
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