Oct 25 2007
Tanzania keen on tie-ups with Bangalore(India) hospitals for telemedicine
With the IT city fast emerging as a global health destination, Tanzania is looking at tie-ups with two Bangalore-based hospitals for tele-medicine.
“Lions Club of Dar Es Salaam is seriously contemplating tie-ups with Narayana Hrudayalaya and Manipal Hospital in Bangalore in the sphere of telemedicine in the coming years,” says Lion’s Club President Hyderali Gangji. Gangji is part of the club’s “Heart Babies Project” wherein 41 poor patients from Tanzania, including 28 children, underwent surgery for congenital and rheumatic heart diseases at Narayana Hrudayalaya. As said by Mr. Gangji “The cost of surgery at Narayana Hrudayalaya was much lower compared to South Africa, UK and the US while the quality matched global standards”.
India is a preferred destination for surgeries because of cost effectiveness and high success rates.
Over 1,300 surgeries have been facilitated through this initiative which was heralded by Dr Rajni Kanabar way back in 1979. One in every 150 children in Tanzania is born with congenital heart defect and over 7,000 children with congenital heart diseases await open heart surgeries which cannot be taken up due to lack of sophisticated surgery centre in the country and they lack the means to go abroad for treatment.
