Address by the Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, Derek Hanekom, at the 1^st Southern African Telemedicine Conference, 16 September 2010, MRC Conference Centre, Cape Town

• Minister of Health, Honourable Dr Aaron Motsoaledi
• Dr Ali Dhansay, Vice President of  Research, MRC
• Ms Eunice Maluleke, Head of the MTN Foundation,
• Prof Arnold van Zyl, Vice-Rector for Research, Stellenbosch University,
• Distinguished guests
• Ladies and Gentlemen:

Let me start by thanking you for the invitation to come and speak at this important conference.

South Africa, like other sub-Saharan countries, carries a huge burden of disease, which continues to undermine the capacity of the people who live in our region to improve their personal circumstances and be productive members of society.

The issues that this conference will be looking at resonate with some of the key priorities of the South African Government, which is working to provide a long and healthy life for all South Africans by, among other things, reducing the impact and prevalence of HIV/Aids and ensuring an effective health care system.

We are also committed to developing vibrant, equitable and sustainable rural communities, by improving the capacity of local governments to provide quality services to the people they serve, which, of course, includes health care.

This conference is an opportunity for participants to review and redefine their roles as health professionals, researchers, students and academics, with a focus on improving health care for the most vulnerable sections of the population.

The prevalence of HIV, tuberculosis, extreme drug-resistant TB, and chronic ailments like diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases, has placed enormous pressure on the South African health care system.  In this context, telemedicine has emerged as a technological solution to some of our problems.

It is not only an important technology tool, but also has enormous potential as a holistic solution, which incorporates business aspects and change management as well as health care, and therefore has the potential to revolutionise the way in which health care is practiced in South Africa.

Health care in South Africa is impeded to a great extent by the lack of trained health professionals (especially medical specialists), the limited availability of drugs, and the costs and distances involved in accessing health care, particularly in rural areas.  Larger tertiary hospitals in major centres do not, in the majority of cases, have the capacity to cope with the sheer volume of patients that come through their doors.

As part of its contribution to resolving some of South Africa’s health care challenges through technological innovation, the Department of Science and Technology has invested about R15 million in various telemedicine projects in the past decade.  This includes –

• R7 million awarded to the KwaZulu-Natal Telemedicine Strategy Project;
• R2 million to the South Africa-China bilateral agreement;
• R6 million awarded by the Innovation Fund (now the Technology and Innovation Agency) to the Medical Research Council and Stellenbosch University to develop telemedicine workstations.

These workstations are now commercially viable projects. The MTN SA Foundation has seized the opportunity and invested R4,8 million to roll out telemedicine in public health facilities.  The results of the project are a clear indication that South Africans can develop and implement their own technology to empower people in the health, communication, engineering and information technology sectors, among others.  The Department of Science and Technology is proud to be associated with the initiative.

In addition to this, the Department has also funded and facilitated pilot telemedicine projects in Limpopo, the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State, in partnership with the national and provincial departments of health, the State Information Technology Agency, the Medical Research Council and the Meraka Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

The focus of these pilot projects is on providing services to people in rural areas.  The roll-out of the projects is answering questions about how to provide stable connectivity, adequate and cost-effective bandwidth, the training of staff, and the integration of telemedicine and other diagnostic tools into the system.  It is hoped that the KwaZulu-Natal initiative will provide a working model for telemedicine that can be rolled out throughout South Africa.

I am also excited to inform you that, in partnership with the European Union, we will be launching the Innovation for Poverty Alleviation programme in Mpumalanga tomorrow.  This project, which was initiated in 2009, is using science and technology to alleviate poverty.

The key priority areas of this project include the development of high impact health programmes that focus on health research, including tuberculosis, malaria and microbicide programmes, as well as telemedicine initiatives, and unlocking the potential of information and communication technologies to make online government services and science and technology-based know-how and skills accessible to rural communities.

In addition to the telemedicine activities, the department has also developed the South African Malaria Initiative, the South African TB Research and Innovation Initiative, and SHARP (the South African HIV/AIDS Research and Innovation Platform). The Department of Science and Technology co-funded the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research (CAPRISA) 004 Phase II clinical trial that tested the safety and effectiveness of Tenofovir gel, an antiretroviral Aids prevention tool.

All the Department's interventions are informed by its vision to improve the quality of people's lives through science and technology.  It is understood that, in order for government to achieve the desired results, we will also need to continue with our multisectoral approach and encourage strategic partnerships among all stakeholders.

While government must create an enabling legislative and policy environment, our public research facilities and higher education institutions must ensure that they continue to find innovative ways of increasing the available pool of human capital –researchers, practitioners, technicians and students in the telemedicine sector.  This is crucial, particularly considering the connection between poverty and poor health among the people of sub-Saharan Africa.

By assisting with health care, telemedicine is an instrument through which the socially vulnerable sections of the population can enjoy the fundamental freedoms that come with being a citizen in democratic state. If people do not have access to quality health care, our Bill of Rights is just so many words.

In closing, I would like to thank the Medical Research Council and Stellenbosch University for making this conference possible, and the MTN SA Foundation for their continued and generous support.

I hope your deliberations will advance efforts to provide quality health care to the people of Southern Africa.

Thank you.