Pan African E-Network Project for Tele-Education and Tele-Medicine

Pan African e-Network Project for Tele-education and Tele-medicine

The Pan African e-Network Project is an initiative of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the then President of India, to use the Indian expertise in information technology to bring benefits of healthcare and higher education to all countries of Africa. He made this proposal at the inaugural session of the Pan-African Parliament in Johannesburg on 16th September 2004. The Network will be connected by a satellite/fibre optical network to provide tele-medicine, tele-education and VVIP connectivity to these countries. The current total project cost is about US$ 130 million, which will be a total grant from the Government of India. The Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi is responsible for the project, while the Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL, a Government of India Undertaking) is the implementing agency. Each country of Africa is required to sign a Country Agreement with the TCIL to participate in this project.

The Network will consist of 5 regional universities, 53 learning centers, 5 regional Super Specialty Hospitals (SSHs), 53 remote hospitals and 53 VVIP Nodes in all countries of Africa. 133 sites/centres have been commissioned/integrated so far with the e-Network. 5 universities and 11 SSHs from India have been linked into the Network. The five Indian educational institutions are: Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Universities of Delhi and Madras, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) at Pilani, and Amity University. The Indian Government has provided a list of courses offered by the institutions to the AU Commission, which range from Diploma level to the Post-Graduate studies in different disciplines and can be chosen by each country in accordance with its priorities and national education strategy. The 12 Indian SSHs are:

CARE Hospital, Hyderabad Sri Ramchandra Medical Apollo Hospital, Chennai, College Research Institute, Narayan Hrudayalaya Institute of Chennai Medical Sciences, Bangalore AIIMS, New Delhi and Amrita Institute of Medical HCG, Bangalore Sciences, Kochi Dr. Bala Bhai Nanavati Fortis Hospital (NOIDA), Hosppital Mumbai Escorts Heart Institute & Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Research Center, New Delhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Mool Chand Khairati Ram Lucknow Hospital, New Delhi

The tele-medicine connectivity will enable the Super Specialty Hospitals to provide expert services to the 53 remote hospitals that are equipped with the required medical equipments like ECG, ultrasound, pathology equipment (Urine Analyzer, Glucometer, BP Instrument, Hot Air Oven, Digital Microscope and Defibrillator) and X-ray at each location. India is also providing tele-medicine facility at the AU Medical Centre in Addis Ababa after AU became the 54th member of the Network in January 2010..

A high level Indian delegation had made a detailed presentation of the proposal in May 2005 to the Chairperson of the AU Commission and representatives of various Pan-African organizations in Addis Ababa. The Commission found the Indian proposal in line with the means and objectives of the 1 African Union, with tremendous potential for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The process to implement the project was undertaken by establishing a Steering Committee, which is co-chaired by the AU Commissioner for Infrastructure and the Indian representative to the African Union (the Indian Ambassador to Ethiopia). An agreement between the Government of India and the African Union was signed in New Delhi in October 2005 and seven meetings of the Steering Committee have so far been held.

Several countries of Africa have shown interest to bring benefits of healthcare and higher education to their people through the e-Network Project. 47 countries in Africa have so far signed the agreement with TCIL, which are:

Benin Gabon Niger Botswana Gambia Nigeria Burkina Faso Ghana Rwanda Burundi Guinea Senegal Cameroon Guinea-Bissau Sao Tome and Cape Verde Kenya Principe Central African Kingdom of Seychelles Republic Lesotho Sierra Leone Chad Liberia Somalia Comoros Libya Sudan R. of Congo Madagascar Swaziland Cote d'Ivoire Malawi Tanzania D. R. of Congo Mali Togo Djibouti Mauritius Uganda Eritrea Mauritania Zambia Egypt Mozambique Zimbabwe Ethiopia Namibia

African Union Commission became the 48th member of the Network in January 2010 when a patient-end VSAT for tele-medicine was inaugurated by Minister of State for External Affairs, H.E. Mr. Shashi Tharoor. A VVIP node has been approved for African Union and may be installed soon.

A decision had been taken to host the Hub for the project in Senegal. The hub is operational since September 2008. The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the University of Ghana have been selected as the regional university for West Africa, University of Makerere (Uganda) as the regional university for East Africa and Yaounde University in Cameroon for Central Africa while the Ibadan Teaching Hospital (Nigeria) has been selected as the regional hospital for West Africa. All above are functional since February 2009. In the 12 countries, the project has fully implemented since February 2009, viz. Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Mauritius, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles and Uganda. The project was formally inaugurated by EAM on 26th February, 2009. The inauguration of the second phase of the network was done by External Affairs Minister, Shri S.M. Krishna on August 16, 2010, where he interacted live with the Ministers of the following 12 countries Botswana,, Burundi, Cote d’ Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, Uganda and Zambia. In these countries Learning Centre (LC), Patient-End Hospital (PEH) and VVIP Node were ready. 2

The 7th Steering Committee meeting of the Pan-African E-network took place in Addis Ababa on 19-20 May 2010. Ambassador of India, who is also the Permanent Representative of India to AU, co-chaired the meeting with the Commissioner for Infrastructure Development of AU. JS(WA) and representatives from IGNOU, TCIL, SRMC Hospital and Amity University also participated in the deliberations.

Ethiopia is the first beneficiary of the project in Africa under a pilot project, which is already in operation. The cost of the pilot project for Ethiopia is US$ 2.13 million, which has been given as a grant by India. The nodal centers for tele- education and tele-medicine are located at the Addis Ababa University and the Black Lion Hospital respectively, with remote centers at Haramaya University and Nekempt Hospital. IGNOU had registered 34 eligible students from the two educational institutes for the regular MBA course, which started from March 2007. The students graduated in September 2009. Currently 22 students are pursuing M.Sc., IT from IGNOU and 12 are pursuing MBA from University of Madras. From July 13, 2011, 35 more students have joined M.Sc. (IT). All these students are teachers and Government officials. The aim of the Ethiopian Government is to build the capacity of Government institutions/universities. Doctors at the Black Lion Hospital in Addis Ababa have been holding regular tele-medicine consultations for patients with all 12 SSHs. All hospitals are also conducting live sessions of Continuing Medical Education for Black Lion Hospital’s Doctors. The consultations are currently in the areas of cardiology, neurology, pathology, dermatology and radiology.

March 2012