Jordan's medical sector is gearing to introduce the latest information technology (IT) to healthcare delivery in order to improve access, reduce costs and ultimately, transform the Kingdom into a regional center for medical treatment. A major drive to promote tele-medicine and tele-education projects is under way to redefine how medicine is studied and practiced in the country.
“Jordan pays about eight percent of the GDP for healthcare, one of the highest in the developing world and even higher than some industrialized countries,” said Dr Isam Saket, general secretary of the International Committee for the Application of Tele-Medicine and Tele-Education.
With that in mind, said Saket, “IT is the best means of reducing the cost of healthcare delivery.”
Last month's tele-medicine and tele-education conference in Cairo, organized and chaired by the Arab Society of Telemedicine (AST), focused on how to implement these systems in Arab countries.
Jordan was one of the first countries in the Middle East to introduce tele-medicine in early 1994, when a Boston-based group called Worldcare along with Jordanian partners established a tele-radiology link with Massachussetts General Hospital. The company was chaired by Dr Ashraf Kurdi, former health minister, and provided second opinion services to patients in Jordan at a fraction of the cost of traveling to the US.
The potential of the technology was demonstrated when radiology and ECG images, for example, were digitized and transmitted for consultation in other locations and without having to physically transport the patient.
Through tele-medicine, remote areas can be efficiently served by medical experts without the cost of travel and accommodation. “Tele-medicine emerged to break the geographical distance barriers between patient and doctor,” reads a document provided by Kurdi.
Saket believes the time is right to introduce this technology on a wider scale because the tools are now in place. “We have the infrastructure available,” he said. Where once tele-medicine was conducted across telephone lines, the Internet and high-bandwidth data networks are now available to conduct video conferencing and distance learning, for example. “Details of a case can be sent to the computer of a doctor anywhere in the world,” said Saket adding, “this cuts down on time and gets lots of doctors involved.”
To this day, many cases have been studied through tele-medicine and second opinions given based on the different diagnostic tools made available. With differences of opinion sometimes occurring, doctors are encouraged to pursue further tests and investigate further, the document says.
Tele-medicine, it is hoped, will improve the accuracy of diagnosis amongst doctors and safeguard the treatment of patients. There is also the issue of retaining talent within Jordan itself. “Previously, medical graduates left the country,” says Saket. “If we don't keep up-to-date with the latest technical aspects, we go obsolete. IT can bring conferences to Jordan and provide international exposure instead of sending 200 doctors to the US for a conference. With that we keep our good doctors in the country,” he said.
Ultimately, should other Arab countries link to Amman, Jordan will strengthen its position as a hub for Middle Eastern medical care, organizers hope. Saket also announced the second meeting of the International Committee for the Application of Tele-Medicine and Tele-Education to convene in Amman, in October and hosted by the Ministry of Health.
Saket is also working on establishing a modern, high tech hospital in the Amman area to add to Jordan's competitiveness as an international medical center. As chairman of the Consulting Hospital, a private venture joining private, army and university physicians, Saket hopes to continue Jordan's distinction in the medical field.
The complex will contain eight operating theatres on six floors with 105 beds and cater to outpatient surgical procedures that minimize a patient's stay and reduce treatment costs. The building will be fronted by a glass atrium, standing six stories high and covering 21 meters broad.
Located on Wadi Saqra road and the intersection with the King Abdullah Gardens, the Consulting Hospital will offer the only rehabilitation facility in the private sector as well as being the only hospital with luminar floors in operating rooms, a material which provides a 100 percent sterile environment.
Tele-medicine functions in both consultancy and training are expected to be established in the hospital as well, said Saket. — ( Jordan Times )
By Owen Clegg
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
