KARACHI, March 31: The Sindh Governor, Dr Ishratul Ibad, on Thursday underlining the importance of telemedicine, asked health department to set up e-Health or telemedicine units in all district hospitals of the province.

He said this at the launching ceremony of a telemedicine project linking the Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre, as the hub unit, with referral district hospitals in Gambat and Shikarpur.

Ibad said the pilot project was a good model of public-private partnership between Engro Chemical, Government of Sindh, the PTCL, Telemedicine Association of Pakistan (TAP) and Narayana Heart Foundation of Banglore, India.

“It is the government’s responsibility to act accordingly, and bridge the gap between facilities provided to the people of rural and urban areas,” he added.

The concept is about delivering health care services by medical professionals using information and communication technologies for the exchange of valid information for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease where distance between the patient and specialist is a critical factor.

President PTCL Junaid

Khan, Dr Zakiuddin Ahmed from Telemedicine Association of Pakistan, and others also spoke.

There were live video conference messages form Dr Devi Shetty and Dr K Ganapathy from India.— PPI