Under CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), leading Nepal telecommunication service provider, Ncell shook hands with Dhulikhel Hospital to begin Telemedicine and Health Informatics Programme.
Ncell and Dhulikhel Hospital hosted a formal inauguration. CEO of Ncell Andy Chong handed telemedicine kits to officials of four outreach under Dhulikhel Hospital. But a special function for the implementation of the Informatics Programme was already organized on 26th February 2021.
Likewise, on the same day of the formal inauguration, Mr. Andy as well as Administrative Director of Dhulikhel Hospital, Mr. Ramesh Makaju inaugurated ‘Ncell-Dhulikhel Hospital Telemedicine and Healthcare Informatics Center’. This new center is established at the Dhulikhel Hospital.
Ncell aims to serve remote as well as underserved communities with quality health care services via this initiative. Furthermore, the company will also use data-driven health care methods as well as robust technology. The leading telecommunication service providing company is providing telemedicine equipment as well as are establishing connectivity infrastructure at the local community health centers of Dhulikhel Hospital.
Nonetheless, Dhulikhel Hospital is set to support Ncell in allocating space and utilities. Not forgetting to mention, qualified Medical Doctors and consultants. Dhulikhel Hospital will also carry out periodic training sessions as well as monitor the project to ensure it is running at the finest standard.
Four community outreach centers of the hospital will implement the project. These four community outreach centers of the hospitals are Manekharka (Sindhupalchowk), Dorpu (Solukhumbu), Thangsin (Nuwakot) as well as Bolde Kavrepalanchowk. Similarly, the project will serve more than 15,000 households in this area. Local people living inside these areas will be able to receive treatment for communicable as well as non-communicable diseases. Over the next 4 years, Ncell plans to increase these Outreach Centres by 20 or more.
CEO of Ncell, Mr. Andy further said “Health is one of our top priorities when it comes to sustainability and CSR as well. We are honored to collaborate with Dhulikhel Hospital on this program that intends to not only serve the underserved communities with quality healthcare service but with an immediacy that can save lives. The collaboration couldn’t be more diverse as the program meets our aspirations to bridge the digital divide. We expect the outreach centers to contribute to saving lives, resources, and time of rural people by providing quality healthcare service in the local community with access to all.”
Administrative Director of Dhulikhel Hospital, Dr. Ramesh Makaju added, “Inauguration of the center is a big achievement to make quality healthcare service available in rural areas through the use of technology. As we have also incorporated the Personalized Health Programme (PHP), we are confident that this project is all set to be first of its kind and we are very much happy that Ncell has supported this innovative project under its CSR. We are excited to installed telemedicine equipment in outreach centers and start providing service at the earliest.”
Founder and Executive Director of Dhulikhel Hospital Prof. Dr. Ram Kantha Makaju Shrestha also followed up saying, “This project has proved that knowledge can be made visible. This project is quite innovative. We are very much thankful to Ncell for these devices and technology that enable us to deliver what we had envisioned 25 years ago to take healthcare service to the doorsteps of rural people.”
Telemedicine, as well as the personalized Heath program (PHP), are the two areas the project implementation will focus on. The project is set to deliver quality healthcare services from eight health centers operating under Dhulikhel Hospital by using connectivity as well as modern telemedicine kits under the telemedicine component. As in PHP, people living in these areas will get personalized health services wherein health workers will conduct regular monitoring of the health of the local people timely intervention at the local level.
Nevertheless, this component intends to develop a data-driven behavior change for the betterment of the health of local people, aiming to scale up PHP in communities beyond these areas. Ncell had already signed an agreement with Dhulikhel Hospital for his project back in 2019. The company did it for their CSR intiative. Therefore, people living in rural areas will get quality health services.