Doctors needed for ‘tele-medicine’ project in Sierra Leone
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Photo by Joe and Carolyn Wagner
Patients wait to be seen at the United Methodist-related health center in Kissy, Sierra Leone.
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| Patients
wait to be seen at the United Methodist-related health center in Kissy,
a suburb of Freetown, Sierra Leone. Operation Doctor plans to initiate a
"tele-medicine" project at Kissy with the involvement of U.S.
physicians. A UMNS file photo courtesy of Joe and Carolyn Wagner. Photo
#05-267. Accompanies UMNS story #185, 3/30/05 |
March 30, 2005 A UMNS Report
By Linda Bloom* Operation
Classroom is looking for at least 50 physicians willing to participate
in a satellite/Internet-based program of consultation and training for
medical staff in Sierra Leone. Any
specialty is welcome, according to Joseph Wagner, the director of
Operation Classroom, a program that helps United Methodists link with
their counterparts in Sierra Leone and Liberia to assist with
Christian-based education and health care. He
needs doctors to indicate their interest by the end of April, in order
to prepare the grant application. “It’s a way of being involved in a
very significant ministry,” he said. The
program would be part of Operation Doctor, a medical component of
Operation Classroom that includes a 10-year partnership with the United
Methodist Church Health and Maternity Center in Kissy, Sierra Leone. Wagner
began considering such a project at least five years ago, to be based
at Ganta Hospital in Liberia, but the civil war there put a halt to his
plans. The idea was revived about a year and a half ago, when he was
contacted by a former World Bank executive who is assisting with the
project. “Tele-medicine”
is defined as the use of telecommunications to provide medical
information and services. It can provide access to specialty care in
remote locations or in emergency situations and reduces the isolation of
rural practitioners in developing countries like Sierra Leone and
Liberia. Clinical
applications will include diagnostic examination interpretation,
medical/surgical management and follow-up, patient case reviews and
specialist referrals. Other applications include continuing medical and
nursing education, data collection and evaluation of research and
protocol development.
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Photo by Joe and Carolyn Wagner
Dr. Dennis Marke heads the United Methodist Maternity and Health Center in Kissy, Sierra Leone.
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| Dr.
Dennis Marke heads the United Methodist Church Maternity and Health
Center in Kissy, Sierra Leone. The center is part of the ministry of the
denomination's Sierra Leone Annual Conference and is in partnership
with Operation Doctor, a medical program of Operation Classroom. A UMNS
file photo courtesy of Joe and Carolyn Wagner. Photo #05-266.
Accompanies UMNS story #185, 3/30/05 |
“What we’re trying to do is provide training for the medical staff,” Wagner explained. The
UMC Health and Maternity Center in Kissy is part of the denomination’s
Sierra Leone Annual (regional) Conference. It is one of only two
facilities providing inpatient and laboratory services in the eastern
suburbs of Freetown, the West African nation’s capital. Those
communities are highly overpopulated, mostly with unemployed youth,
women and displaced people. Operation
Doctor built a two-unit surgical ward in Kissy during 2003-04 and is
completing a 30-bed post-op ward, according to Wagner. Dr.
Dennis Marke has served as the chief physician since 1997. Two other
doctors, one from Sierra Leone and one from the Congo, also staff the
center, which sees about 70 patients a day, Wagner added. An average of
50 babies are delivered there each month. Kissy
has been designated by the Sierra Leone HIV/AIDS Treatment Action Group
as a treatment center for the east end of Freetown, which means free
anti-retroviral medications, funded by the World Bank, will be made
available for those cases. In
2004, the Kissy clinic tested 1,004 general clients for HIV/AIDS,
recording 43 positive cases. Six of those infected died during the year.
In addition, 2,351 pre-natal patients were tested, and 69 were positive
for the virus. The
center also sponsored a variety of educational programs about HIV/AIDS
for communities and schools, and it runs a nutrition program. The
goal of the tele-medicine project is to enable U.S. doctors to connect
using their home or office computer, Wagner said. Those who would like
to participate can send an e-mail to ocmission@frontiernet.net or call Wagner at (765) 436-2805. Operation
Classroom projects are Advance Specials of the United Methodist Board
of Global Ministries. To contribute to the Kissy clinic and other
projects, look at http://gbgm-umc.org/advance or www.operationclassroom.org online. *Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York. News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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