“It was an emotional experience, the first time I was able to talk to a patient in the Hospital Agostinho Neto located on the island of Brava off the coast of Western Africa using telemedicine technology,” according to His Excellency Prime Minister Jose Maria Neves speaking at the opening ceremony of the Integrated Telemedicine and e-Health Program for Cabo Verde on July 28, 2014.
Carbo Verde is an island country that consists of an archipelago of 10 main islands, several smaller islands, and inlets located off the coast of Western Africa, off Senegal, and culturally contiguous with West African sub-Saharan countries.
The goal for the International Virtual e-Hospital (IVeH) Foundation, (www.iveh.org) a non-profit organization is to create and establish self-sustainable telemedicine and e-health programs around the world and to rebuild medical systems in the developing world.
IVeH Foundation’s latest recent achievement has been to implement telemedicine technology in Cabo Verde, to guarantee a higher standard of healthcare. Professor of Surgery, Rifat Latifi, University of Arizona, Founder and President of IVeH President as well as the Project Director that led the way to establish an integrated telemedicine and eHealth program on Cabo.
IVeH and the Government of Cabo Verde have been able to build a fully functional, integrated national telemedicine network and virtual education network. The program was built based on the IVeH strategic approach known as “Initiate-Build-Operate-Transfer” (IBOT).
This approach provides for developing the network, deploying clinical telemedicine technology, implementing activities related to continuing medical education delivered from within the country and from abroad, and establishing the use of an electronic virtual library.
Today, all of the inhabited islands of Cabo have access to a fully functional telemedicine system. During a recent video conference with the telemedicine and e-health leadership of Cabo Verde, Professor Latifi promised that IVeH would continue to provide support.
Other leaders speaking at the Integrated Telemedicine and e-Health Program for Cabo Verde praised the use of telemedicine to unite all the islands of the country. His Excellency Ambassador Mitja Strukelj, General Director of the Slovenian International Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Assistance said, “This project represents the first aid project of the Slovenian Government outside the Balkans and his organization is proud of its success.”
The telemedicine project started in July 2012 with the first phase completed in January 2013, and with the second phase completed July 2014. A third phase supported by the Slovenian Government will extend the activities in Cabo Verde until December 2015.
The first year results show that over 300 teleconsultations and 45 virtual educational events held during the first year took place during a relatively short period of time. Participants at the Integrated and e-Health Program for Cabo highlighted the potential for future growth and development for the program. Future plans are to make virtual education programs official as well as adding components to the clinical programs.
As Professor Latifi sees the future, “This program has the opportunity to serve as a virtual medical school of Cabo Verde. Now that we have established the clinical and virtual educational program, we need to engage in research and through publications inform the international scientific community on what has been accomplished by initiating the Cabo Verde project.”