Lagos Implements e-Health in 13 General Hospitals

The Lagos State Government has become the first state in the country to successfully implement e-health strategy in 13 general hospitals in the state, enabling the hospitals to practice healthcare system supported by electronic processes and telecommunications technologies, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek has learnt.
The e-health strategy covers a wide range of services namely: electronic health records, telemedicine, consumer health informatics, health knowledge management, virtual healthcare teams, mobile health (m-health) and healthcare information systems, among others.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that the project has been completely implemented in Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja; General Hospital, Lagos and General Hospital, Isolo while the implementation process is on-going in 10 others.  The state government expects to fully implement e-health in the remaining 14 general hospitals in the state by 2010.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that already, servers with appropriate software, computers, scanners and radio, among others have been installed to ensure seamless access to health information in the state just as health personnel have been trained on how to use the equipment.
Telemedicine, which is part of e-health, is used in such ways as transmission of medical images for diagnosis (often referred to as store and forward telehealth); groups or individuals exchanging health services or education live via videoconference (real-time telehealth), among others.