Victoria hospital now linked to specialists abroad |02 October 2008

Our hospital will also be connected in a similar way to others in Africa that will eventually link up to the Pan-African electronic network being offered by India.

This follows the commissioning of the links yesterday by Health and Social Development Minister Marie-Pierre Lloyd and Indian High Commissioner Asit Kumar Nag.

Chief executive of the health services authority Maryse Berlouis said the links will bring big benefits to the Seychellois population and save journeys made by patients overseas, sometimes just for diagnosis or a follow-up after treatment abroad.

She said besides saving on overseas treatment costs, the system will also save patients and families the emotional effects of trips abroad.

But Mrs Berlouis said despite this and other facilities at Victoria hospital, it is still not yet a fully fledged tertiary treatment hospital and some patients still have to be sent overseas.

High Commissioner Nag said Seychelles is the second country after Senegal to put in place its telemedicine system among the 53 that are expected to be linked to the system.

He said his country’s support is in line with its policy to help Seychelles in capacity building and he stressed the value of telemedicine.

Mrs Lloyd said the commissioning is a milestone – telemedicine and teleconferencing are moving from being mere dreams to becoming realities in Seychelles.

“The concept should have no frontiers and the practice should know no boundaries,” she said.

Mrs Lloyd told High Commissioner Nag the project shows the strong bonds of friendship and of technological and scientific exchange between the peoples of Seychelles and India.

“It demonstrates how the destiny of the people of India and Seychelles are inextricably linked and how the two countries can work together to improve the quality of health care in the Indian Ocean,” she said.

She also thanked the Indian government for all the other collaboration with her ministry over the years.

“Your government has contributed greatly to improving the health and saving the lives of many of our people,” she said.

Guests, including delegates from the East, Central and Southern African region who attended a three-day meeting on e-health, watched a demonstration as doctors in India discussed cases with their Seychellois counterparts using the new system.