OFTALKOLDA: a tele-ophthalmology project in Senegal

During the last July 2012, the first implementation and test actions were carried out as regards to the telemedicine platform developed for the OFTALKOLDA Project, in Senegal. This international cooperation project is part of the collaboration between Health and Dependence Cluster of i2Cat Foundation and the Fundació Ferreruela Sanfeliu, which began in 2009. The aim of this partnership is to improve access to ophthalmologic health care for Senegalese society through the use of Internet and the new technologies, and it is currently financed by Caixa Unnim Obra Social.

Technician in the ophthalmology room

The objective of the project is to achieve communication between Reference Hospitals in Catalonia and Senegal, and Health Centers in rural zones with lack of specialized health care. Through a telemedicine platform, ophthalmologists will be able to examine and diagnose images from patients coming from isolated areas, giving support to local practitioners in order to improve the service given to the population.

Given that, different meeting took place among the actors involved, and also some evaluations has been carried out in the different hospitals involved: the Teaching Hospital CHU Abass Ndao, in the capital of the country, Dakar, and the Regional Hospital CHR Kolda, in Haute Casamance region. Also, the server with the platform was installed, in order to start with the start-up implementation and testing of the web page.

Project members

As regards to future actions, it is planned to improve communications infrastructure in CHR Kolda, in order to improve access to the platform to health staff, along with the corresponding corrections according to the results of the first usability test. Furthermore, it is expected that these services will be extended to other specialties, and also complemented with other national initiatives underway on telemedicine, such as those being carried out by the organization AMREF.

Main entrance of CHR Kolda