Nyamira residents are set to benefit from a telemedicine system that will enable medical services reach patients living far from medical facilities without the need to travel.
The county health services department has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with GlobalMed to acquire a new telemedicine system that will ease access to medical services easily by rural residents in Nyamira and neighbouring counties.
Speaking during the signing of the MoU GlobalMed chief commercial officer, Manoel Coelho said that the system, which has been tested and approved in most of the European countries, will see the quality of life improve in the entire county.
He said it will contribute to reducing deaths among the residents that result due to inaccessibility to medical centres for timely treatment.
“Telemedicine will reduce the costs of medical care and hence improve the quality of life among the residents," said Manoel.
Manoel said the decision to use telemedicine by the county was a bold move in healthcare provision noting that Nyamira is the first to install a telemedicine system in East Africa.
The system is able to offer over 40 services in testing for various ailments.
Nyamira Governor John Nyagarama said that the initiative was guided by the need to save lives in the rural areas by providing timely health services.
“Most people die because healthcare is expensive and my government is trying to bring cheap and accessible healthcare to the residents so as we don’t lose more lives and this will help us grow economically when we have healthy population," he said.
Telemedicine is the use of telecommunication and information technologies in order to provide clinical health care at a distance.
It helps eliminate distance barriers and can improve access to medical services that would often not be consistently available in distant rural communities. It is also used to save lives in critical care and emergency situations.