CHES program for rural based Hospitals is launched

On 31st March 2009, the Community Health Ecosystem Support (CHES) program was launched at Uganda Development Services (UDS) Kamuli Telecentre- 152 kilometers from Kampala in Eastern Uganda. This was a follow up of a research that was concluded in 2006 that involved UgaBYTES initiatives, UDS, Telecentre.org, IDRC, Intel Corporation’s Emerging Markets, AED Satellite Center for Information Technology and the President’s office of Science and Technology. Since then, the project has grown to include the Ministry of Health, HEALTHNET Uganda and Mulago Hospital, which is the largest government hospital in the country.

The project is designed to spearhead the development of e-health in rural areas. The major contribution to the health sector will be the ability to deliver health services to rural areas through online consultation. With computers and internet connectivity, a doctor for example will be able to take a photo, scan it and send it to another doctor in a referral hospital for expert opinion.

CHES is also intended to develop and help implement an ecologically sound and community-based resource management and health intervention. UDS Telecentre will be the source of the internet and will share it with three other centres namely Kamuli District Hospital, Kamuli Mission Hospital and VEDCO Kamuli.

UDS is a people and institutions empowered association with knowledge, information and skills that lead to the sustainable socio-economic transformation and prosperity of communities. Services that are offered at the telecentre include a library, agricultural information dissemination and training of farmer groups, training in basic computer skills using in-house computer training facilities and internet connections.

Designed for outdoor environment application, the R1 Extender that was installed is a high-performance outdoor-deployable wireless bridge that provides wireless connectivity among multiple network locations. Its multi function communication device allows for local area network (LANs) in different locations to be easily interconnected. The R1 Extender has a built-in antenna that can deliver up to a 40Km connection.

The Taiwanese made state of art equipment were installed by UgaBYTES initiatives team. Speaking at the launch, the Executive Director of UgaBYTES Initiatives, Sulah Ndaula said the program will be spread to other hospitals not only in Uganda but also in other East African regions.

The launch was attended UDS Director of Operations, Andrew Yiga, representatives from Intel and VEDCO, Local Council (LC5) chairman as well as other high ranking officials from the district administration.