Oculistas Wi-Fi
Redes Wi-Fi ajudam em consultas médicas no interior da India, o que é apontado como uma das saídas para melhorar a saúde nas zonas rurais em países como o nosso. Vejam matéria completa da BBCWi-fi update helps eye doctors. Trechos:
“The network allows specialists at Aravind Eye Hospital at Theni, in the state of Tamil Nadu, to interview and examine patients in nine remote clinics via high-quality video conference.
The map shows the nine vision centres and the distance of each the wi-fi travels from Theni hospital
(..)Instead the Berkeley scientists adapted existing wi-fi technology. The key challenge is that wi-fi is designed for short, and not long distance communication. (…) This could revolutionise the delivery of health care services and greatly improve the quality life in the rural developing world
Professor Eric Brewer, Berkeley
Berkeley’s team has built wireless fixed links between the vision centres and the hospital. “Ours is a solution tuned to the needs of developing areas; NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations) don’t have the resources to implement the more expensive long-distance systems such as Wimax, ” says Sonesh Surena, one of Brewer’s PhD students working in the project. The innovation for the India wi-fi system was to provide high bandwidth, for high quality video imaging, over long distances. (…)But the team has obtained even more impressive results: “In our current world record, we achieved almost 6 megabits/second over a distance of 384 kilometres using only one link,” he adds. These tests were carried out in a project in Venezuela last summer. (…)”Ultimately we can reach more patients at a affordable cost so that we can serve more people.”
Eye test. Patients can take eye tests at local clinics
At the moment, there are nine centres linked to the hospitals at Theni, which serve more than 50,000 residents in the area. And roughly 2,500 patients per month are using the video conference to meet with a doctor. Each vision centre is run by three paramedical technicians, so that “eye doctors can do skilful work in the hospital such as surgery”, says Dr Namperumalsamy. The current network is expected to expand in the state to include five hospitals within the Aravind Eye System Care that will be linked to 50 clinics. They are expected to serve half a million patients each year in rural South India – most of whom have no access to eye care today.(…).