Antigua & Barbuda Joins The Health Service Internet Usage Bandwagon
It looks like it is not only African countries that are incorporating internet to their medical clinic services. Caribbean countries as well have also come of age in terms of appreciating the efficiency that employing the internet could bring to a countries medical service. On March, 2014 the Ministry of Telecommunication of Antigua & Barbuda embarked on an ambitious plan of rolling out computerized hardware and broadband internet access in St. John’s Health Centre and several other clinics at Grays Farm, Johnson’s Point, Browne’s Avenue, Jennings and Clare Hall.
This innovative master plan has been credited to the Honorable Dr. Edmond Mansoor who is the Minister on Telecommunications for Antigua & Barbuda. He came up with an elaborate blueprint on how all the community medical clinics in the country will be equipped with fast computers and broadband internet access.
Those expected to enjoy the use of these facilities includes patients within the clinics and visitors in waiting areas who will be able to use free Wi-Fi signals within the clinics’ premises. In addition to this, Physicians will now be able to do more vital research online and communicate with their research associates easily using these facilities. In addition to this other medical functions done in the laboratory, x-ray facilities and blood profiling at the Mt. St. John’s Medical Centre, the results of such medical services can now be easily relayed to the district clinics easily using the internet. Saving time, resources and cost on human labor in terms of delivery man.
It would seem that African and Caribbean countries have come of age when it comes to innovative ways of utilizing the internet to improve productivity or over-coming challenges. As previously brought to you by Inno8tiv Magazine, stories on how Mali Radiologist are using the internet and how medical surgeons in East Africa are employing the internet to bridge the gap in number of qualified surgery instructors and the demand for such specialist. It would seem that ICT is truly changing the way we do business globally, even in areas conventionally thought of to be third-world countries.
