Jacob Bore
Ampath Oncology& Hematology,Eldoret Kenya
Title: The delivery of oncology health services to resource limited LMIC through Telemedicine.
Biography
Biography: Jacob Bore
Abstract
We have been using telemedicine to increase access to specialized cancer care to remote areas with poor accessibility and lacking basic health care facility to deal with cancer care. This has been achieved through partnership with eight county governments in Kenya in terms of reducing patient travel costs through teleconsultation and virtual tumor board which have enabled health care providers in these remote areas to consult with specialist in the regional referral hospitals and health care professional training, extended specialty to all clinics and improved patient referral system with prompt treatment.
Through our telemedicine center, we have been able to hold over twenty tumor boards where we interconnect with other five major hospitals to discuss patient cases. We have also established three remote telemedicine clinics where cancer patients and care providers can consult with oncologist virtually. There many challenges that are inhibiting our advancement of access to cancer care through telemedicine and it’s not limited only to cost of funding it but also includes lack of funding to establish a reliable ICT infrastructure, lack of adequate qualified health care personnel i.e. Oncology clinical officers, nurses, pharmacists, lab technologist in remote clinics.