Rotary Foundation unveils $50,000 Telehealth Project in Jirapa
Rotary Foundation Global Grant has established a Telehealth Project at Jirapa in the Upper West Region to provide video conferencing between medical staff to enhance patient care through professional development.
The 50,000 dollars project is a three- country Rotary Club initiative to broaden the knowledge base of medical practitioners and allied health professionals.
The project would provide interaction between healthcare providers in rural and resource poor areas where one doctor serves a population of 80,000, with their counterparts in advanced and developed countries, says D. Godfrey Bacheyie, Local Physician and Project Leader.
The Rotary Club of Windsor in Canada, which is the brain behind the implementation of the project, is being partnered by Jirapa Health Alliance and Rotary Club of Accra Ring Road Central in Ghana as well as Herzog Hospital and the Rotary Club of Jerusalem in Israel.
Dr Bacheyie said the project had come at an opportune time because Jirapa has been an under service community and is suffering from the challenges of expert skills and knowledge in health care delivery, education, agriculture among other setbacks.
The project was therefore designed to help improve the knowledge base of health professionals to overcome their daily operational challenges and students of the health training institutions to enhance their performance.
Academic work and specialised expertise and advice are being provided by Herzog Hospital.
Dr Bacheyie said: “The challenges of having nobody to consult when in difficulty would not be there again with the facility functioning. It also has a huge potential for teachers and agriculturists as well for self development.”
He said plans are underway to extend the facility to Saint Francis Girls Senior High School in Jirapa and improve the knowledge based of tutors and students.
Dr Richard Wodah, Medical Doctor at St Joseph’s Hospital at Jirapa said the facility would help encourage young doctors and other medical professionals to accept posting to the medical facility.
He announced that a lecture hall would be provided and equipped for the operations of the facility and called on stakeholders in the health sector to play their roles appropriately to sustain the project.
Source: GNA
This is great news, we must be proud of this illustrious son of the Jirapa Traditional Area (Dr. Bacheyie) for playing a lead role in this development. I pray that we make a maximum use of the facility and not let it be a ‘white elephant’.
This is wonderful news – and shows the power of Rotary to leverage the efforts of dedicated individuals – Dr Bacheyie, Janet Kelly and Gary Katz of the Rotary Club of Windsor (1918) in Canada as well as members of the Rotary Clubs of Accra and Jerusalem. Congratulations to all on this beginning! Looking forward to seeing the project in full flower!