Kathmandu: Ncell Axiata Limited under its corporate social responsibility (CSR) and Dhulikhel Hospital together have begun the much-awaited Telemedicine and Health Informatics Program.

At a formal inauguration, Andy Chong, CEO of Ncell, handed over the telemedicine kits to officials of four outreach centers under Dhulikhel Hospital amidst a special function on February 26 for the implementation of Telemedicine and Health Informatics Program.

Andy and Dr. Ramesh Makaju, administrative director of Dhulikhel Hospital, on the same day, inaugurated ‘Ncell-Dhulikhel Hospital Telemedicine and Healthcare Informatics Centre’ established at the hospital.

Under this initiative, Ncell intends to serve remote and underserved communities through quality health care services, using technology and data-driven health care methods, according to a press release issued by the Ncell.

"Ncell is providing telemedicine equipment, establishing connectivity infrastructure at the local community health centers of DH. In return, DH will provide support in allocating space & utilities, qualified Medical Doctors & Consultants and carrying out periodic training sessions and monitoring the project to ensure it runs in optimum quality," read the press release.

In the initial phase, four community outreach centres of the hospital: Manekharka (Sindhupalchowk), Dorpu (Solukhumbu), Thangsin (Nuwakot) and Bolde Kavrepalchowk will implement the project. It will service more than 15,000 households of the catchment area. Locals living in the communities of the project areas can receive treatments on communicable as well as non-communicable chronic diseases. Ncell plans to expand this to 20 or more Outreach Centers over the next 4 years, according to the press release.

Andy, CEO of Ncell, sharing his excitement of the project said, “Health is one of our top priorities when it comes to sustainability and CSR at Ncell. We are honoured to collaborate with Dhulikhel Hospital on this programme that intends to not only serve the underserved communities with quality healthcare service, but with immediacy that can save lives. The collaboration couldn’t be more diverse as the programme meets our aspirations to bridge the digital divide. We expect the outreach centres to contribute in saving lives, resources and time of rural people by providing quality healthcare service in the local community with access to all.”

Dr. Makaju, administrative director of Dhulikhel Hospital said, “Inauguration of the centre is a big achievement to make quality healthcare service available in rural areas through use of technology. As we have also incorporated the Personalized Health Program (PHP), we are confident that this project is all set be first of its kind and we are very much happy that Ncell has supported in this innovative project under its CSR. We are excited to installed telemedicine equipment in outreach centres and start providing service at the earliest.”

On the occasion of telemedicine hand over and inauguration of the centre, Dr. Dr. Ram Kantha Makaju Shrestha, founder and executive director of Dhulikhel Hospital said, “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.”

The project implementation focuses in two areas—Telemedicine and Personalized Health Program (PHP). Under the telemedicine component, the project will deliver quality healthcare services from eight health centers operating under Dhulikhel Hospital by using connectivity and modern telemedicine kit.

In PHP, a preventive program, locals from catchment areas of these community health centres will get personalized health services wherein health workers will conduct regular monitoring of the health of local people for timely intervention at the local level. 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 the catchment areas.

Ncell in 2019 had signed an agreement with Dhulikhel Hospital for this project as a part of the company’s corporal social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. The project aims to extend quality healthcare service to people from rural areas, using technology and data-driven health care methods, according to the press release.