By  VICTORIA OJEME

A Telemedicine Centre has been launched at  Hassan’s Clinic and Diagnostic Centre,  Abuja. In a statement, Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Mahesh Sachdev, said India had  made use of such  facility to meet the health demands of the country’s 1.2 billion  populace.

“Telemedicine is essentially an exercise  to provide enhanced healthcare and assistance. It has enormous platform to launch various devices and methodology ranging from consultation with the doctor  to the diagnostics.

“So if we can have a finite of daily medical care extended to the nooks and crannies of Nigeria in Telecoms and broadband, to the remote areas of the country, things will inevitably become better to also help Nigeria  use its healthcare facilities more efficiently”, Sachdev stressed.

National President, Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria, Dr. Godswill Okara, said the intention was to gather the best  team of intellectuals, scientists and clinicians that can provide first class health care service to Nigerians at all levels.

“What we do is get the doctor outside the country to see the patient through this facility. It reduces cost for the patient because they have seen their doctor here and have been given the necessary advice.

“The Tele – medical facility gives the opportunity of consulting with specialists around the world, you can have an x – ray done in Jalingo, it is sent online, and then, the doctor probably has a printed copy. This makes the medical process faster and you bring the medical facilities together, everybody around the patient,” he reiterated.