The Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, Derek Hanekom, will deliver a keynote address at the first Southern African Telemedicine Conference on Thursday, 16 September 2010 (09h00). The conference will be held at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Conference Centre in Parow Valley, Cape Town.
It is hosted by the MRC in conjunction with MTN and the University of Stellenbosch. The conference brings together researchers, professionals, academics, health practitioners, students, health analysts, etc. that work in the discipline of telemedicine.
Telemedicine is broadly defined as the use of information and telecommunications technologies to provide medical information and services at a distance.
The benefits of telemedicine to a country like South Africa are the provision of scarce medical resources to rural areas. This allows patients to be treated at a local clinic or hospital instead of being referred to hospital with the appropriate services. It also reduces the cost of unnecessary patient transfer and saves the patient time and expenses when away from work or their family. It further provides rural practitioners with support from peers at larger centres during patient consultation and ongoing education.
For further information and to RSVP, please contact:
Nthabi Maoela
Cell: 082 944 0015
Source: SAPA
