The Pan African e-Network Project is an initiative of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the then President of India, to use the Indian expertise in information technology to bring benefits of healthcare and higher education to all countries of Africa. He made this proposal at the inaugural session of the Pan-African Parliament in Johannesburg on 16th September 2004. The Network will be connected by a satellite/fibre optical network to provide tele-medicine, tele-education and VVIP connectivity to these countries. The current total project cost is about US$ 130 million, which will be a total grant from the Government of India. The Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi is responsible for the project, while the Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL) is the implementing agency. Each country of Africa is required to sign a Country Agreement with the TCIL to participate in this project.
The Network will consist of 5 regional universities, 53 learning centers, 5 regional Super Speciality Hospitals (SSHs) and 53 remote hospitals in all countries of Africa. 116 sites/centres have been commissioned/integrated so far with the e-Network. 5 universities and 11 SSHs from India have been linked into the Network. The five Indian educational institutions are: Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Universities of Delhi and Madras, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) at Pilani, and Amity University. The Indian government has provided a list of courses offered by the institutions to the AU Commission, which range from Diploma level to the Post-Graduate studies in different disciplines and can be chosen by each country in accordance with its priorities and national education strategy. The 11 Indian SSHs are:
§ CARE Hospital, Hyderabad
§ Apollo Hospital, Chennai,
§ Narayan Hrudayalaya Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangalore
§ Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi
§ Fortis Hospital (NOIDA),
§ Escorts Heart Institute & Research Center, New Delhi
§ Mool Chand Khairati Ram Hospital, New Delhi
§ Sri Ramchandra Medical College Research Institute, Chennai
§ AIIMS, New Delhi and
§ HCG, Bangalore
§ Dr. Bala Bhai Nanavati Hosppital Mumbai
The tele-medicine connectivity will enable the Super Specialty Hospitals to provide expert services to the 53 remote hospitals that are equipped with the required medical equipments like ECG, ultrasound, pathology and X-ray at each location. India is also committed to provide tele-medicine facility at the AU Medical Centre in Addis Ababa.
A high level Indian delegation had made a detailed presentation of the proposal in May 2005 to the Chairperson of the AU Commission and representatives of various Pan-African organizations in Addis Ababa. The Commission found the Indian proposal in line with the means and objectives of the African Union, with tremendous potential for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The process to implement the project was undertaken by establishing a Steering Committee, which is co-chaired by the AU Commissioner for Infrastructure and the Indian representative to the African Union (the Indian Ambassador to Ethiopia). An agreement between the Government of India and the African Union was signed in New Delhi in October 2005 and six meetings of the Steering Committee have so far been held. The 7th meeting of the Steering Committee was held in Addis Ababa on 19th & 20th May 2010.
Several countries of Africa have shown interest to bring benefits of healthcare and higher education to their people through the e-Network Project. 47 countries in Africa have so far signed the agreement with TCIL.
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Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros R. of Congo Cote d'Ivoire D. R. of Congo Djibouti Eritrea Egypt
Ethiopia
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Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Kenya Kingdom of Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritius Mauritania Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria |
Rwanda Senegal Sao Tome and Principe Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe
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A decision had been taken to host the Hub for the project in Senegal. The hub is operational since September 2008. The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the University of Ghana have been selected as the regional university for West Africa, University of Makerere (Uganda) as the regional university for East Africa and Yaounde University in Cameroon for Central Africa while the Ibadan Teaching Hospital (Nigeria) has been selected as the regional hospital for West Africa. All above are functional since February 2009. In the 12 countries, the project has fully implemented since February 2009, viz. Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Mauritius, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles and Uganda. The project was formally inaugurated by EAM on 26th February, 2009.
The 7th Steering Committee meeting of the Pan-African E-network took place in Addis Ababa on 19th & 20th May 2010. Ambassador of India, who is also the Permanent Representative of India to AU, Co-chaired the meeting with the Commissioner for Infrastructure development of AU. JS(WA) and representatives from IGNOU, TCIL, Apollo, Amity University also participated in the deliberations.
Ethiopia is the first beneficiary of the project in Africa under a pilot project, which is already in operation. The cost of the pilot project for Ethiopia is US$ 2.13 million, which has been given as a grant by India. The nodal centers for tele-education and tele-medicine are located at the Addis Ababa University and the Black Lion Hospital respectively, with remote centers at Haromaya University and Nekempt Hospital. Doctors at the Black Lion Hospital in Addis Ababa have been holding regular tele-medicine consultations for patients with the CARE Hospital in Hyderabad. The Medical Expert of CARE Hospital in Hyderabad is also conducting live sessions of Continuing Medical Education for Black Lion Hospital’s Doctors on regular basis which is an integral part of Tele-education programme. The consultations are currently in the areas of cardiology, neurology, pathology, dermatology and radiology.
June 2010