Experience with a low-cost telemedicine system in three developing countries

The Swinfen Charitable Trust was established in 1998 with the aim of helping the poor, sick and disabled in the developing world. It does this by setting up simple telemedicine links based on e-mail to support doctors in isolated hospitals. The first telemedicine link was established to support the lone orthopaedic surgeon at the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) in Savar, near Dhaka in Bangladesh in July 1999. An evaluation of the 27 referrals made during the first year of operation showed that the telemedical advice had been useful and cost effective. Based on the success of the Bangladesh project, the Swinfen Charitable Trust supplied digital cameras and tripods to more hospitals in other developing countries. These are Patan Hospital in Nepal (March 2000), Gizo Hospital in the Solomon Islands (March 2000), Helena Goldie Hospital on New Georgia in the Solomon Islands (September 2000), and LAMB Hospital in Bangladesh (September 2000).