e-health

The current e-governance scenario in the healthcare sector in India is disappointing. Public health services run by the government are overburdened and collapsing. Large geographical size, increased population density, lack of transport, inaccessibility, illiteracy, poverty, poor nutritional status, diversity in food habit and life style are various impediments. Government priorities for providing food, safe water and school education are yet to be fulfilled. At this stage low budget for health, lack of funds and coordination have triggered down trend in health services.

The Asian Development Bank has been part of searching for better development solutions and innovative approaches using ICT and experiencing the challenges of realities in implementation.This paper selectively takes stock of ADB initiatives across sectors, countries, and regions to share their experiences.

This paper examines two parallel case studies to promote remote medical consultation in Ghana. These projects, initiated independently by different researchers in different organizations, both deployed ICT solutions in the same medical community in the same year. The Ghana Consultation Network currently has over 125 users running a Web-based application over a delay-tolerant network of servers. OneTouch MedicareLine is currently providing 1700 doctors in Ghana with free mobile phone calls and text messages to other members of the medical community.

Most health care professionals in Sri Lanka use ICT for acquiring knowledge, but the use of ICT by the general public for accessing health care information is till at a very low level, although the Government has spent millions of rupees in developing ICT infrastructure all over the island. To address the needs of developing content and application relevant to the Sri Lankan domain, the e-society programme, ICT Agency of Sri Lanka rolled out a two pronged grant mechanism through which partnerships were established several CBOs, NGOs as well as state and private sector organizations.

Most health care professionals in Sri Lanka use ICT for acquiring knowledge, but the use of ICT by the general public for accessing health care information is till at a very low level, although the Government has spent millions of rupees in developing ICT infrastructure all over the island. To address the needs of developing content and application relevant to the Sri Lankan domain, the e-society programme, ICT Agency of Sri Lanka rolled out a two pronged grant mechanism through which partnerships were established several CBOs, NGOs as well as state and private sector organizations.