In a strategic bid to scale up digital healthcare awareness in Nigeria and build capacity for health workers, Global Technology giant, Intel Corporation Nigeria, has provided free computer training for all key staff of the National Orthopedic Hospital, Igbobi.
The training series was designed to further educate and equip workers to use digital technology in the everyday delivery of healthcare services across Nigerian hospitals. To this end, Intel partnered with a medical network firm, Synapses Limited to facilitate the training. The National Orthopaedic Hospital Igbobi is the first in the series of hospitals that will benefit from Intel’s Easy Steps training.
Intel is collaborating with partners to digitalise the Nigerian Healthcare delivery System. Synapses will therefore deploy appropriate ICT infrastructure in major hospitals across the country starting with the Orthopaedic Hospital Igbobi.
Corporate Affairs Manager of Intel Nigeria, Osagie Ogunbor, said: “Intel is a company with a long track record of bringing different firms with different strength and resources together to find mutually beneficial solutions for people, communities and the environment. We are glad that by this training, we are able to contribute significantly to the improvement of the healthcare delivery system in Nigeria.
“That’s because Intel sees problems as opportunities; opportunities to solve the unsolvable; to collaborate in new and unexpected ways. We are excited at the impact this training is having in the lives of the health workers of the National orthopedic hospital who can now see how digital technology can be deployed to improve health care delivery through the trainings they have received.”
Synapses Managing Director, Segun Ebitanmi, said the collaboration was in response to the poor state of ICT infrastructure in most hospitals. He said in this information age, access to information through internet connectivity has become imperative to keep doctors abreast of latest developments and technologies in health care delivery. Ebitanmi noted that Synapses medical Networks has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Ministry of Health to deploy adequate ICT infrastructure for all teaching hospitals across the country.
According to Ebitanmi, a major challenge faced in the pilot phase of the project at the National orthopedic hospital was the fact that a number of the health workers need to improve on their ICT skills in order to optimally utilise the solutions being deployed.
“And because we know Intel’s pedigree in ICT training in education, we are gladly partnering with them to facilitate the Easy Steps training for all the strategic staff of the Igbobi hospital. We are glad that Intel has agreed to partner with us in providing this training free to all the health workers here,” Ebitani said.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) in its world health report published 2007, rated the Nigerian health care delivery system 187th out of its 192 member countries. “This means that Nigerian Health Care Delivery System is one of the poorest on the planet,” Ebitanmi said, adding that Synapses would leverage on Intel’s pedigree as a technology company with a huge reputation for social intervention to impact on the quality of health care delivery in Nigeria, especially with a worthy partner like Intel.”
Source: businessdayonline.com