"Telemedicine" links Africans to Indian expertise

By Barry Malone

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Troubled by a difficult case, doctor Asfaw Atnafu decides to seek advice.

He walks into a consulting room at Black Lion Hospital in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa and greets a doctor at the Care Hospital in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.

Linked by a high-speed Internet connection, the doctors study X-rays and laboratory results.

Flipping between charts, they use light pens to point out important features. They can see each other in windows on their screens, while medical charts fill the rest of the display.

India launched this "telemedicine" project in Ethiopia last July at a cost of $2.13 million. The project links hospitals in Ethiopia with the Hyderabad-based Care Group of Hospitals, India's leading cardiac institute.

The scheme is part of the pan-African e-network, a 5.42 billion-rupee ($135.6-million) joint initiative between the African Union and India which was launched in Ethiopia last year to improve Internet links and communication.

India is likely to highlight its prowess in information communication technology (ICT) as a way of strengthening ties at summit of African heads of state in New Delhi on April 8 and 9 -- the first meeting of its kind.

"By using telemedicine, a country like Ethiopia, a Third World country with a problem with funding and manpower, can benefit greatly," radiologist Asfaw said.