Phase One of the Pan African E-Network project, a project which uses ICT to provide free five-year medical services and scholarships for African countries, is now up and running. The project, which establishes distance learning and online treatment sites in African countries is part of the grant offered to the African Union by the Indian government.
The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Atef Helmy paid a visit last Monday by to Alexandria University to witness the events of implementing Phase One of the project, and to participate in the University’s celebration for setting up the headquarters for the regional university and the highly specialised hospital, achieved by joint cooperation with Indian-African network for distance learning and medicine.
Accompanying Mr Helmy were the president of the Alexandria University (AU) Osama Ibrahim, the deans of both the faculties of medicine and commerce at AU, and the Indian Ambassador to Cairo Navdeep Suri.
In 2007, Egypt, along with other 46 countries, signed the cooperation protocol. There are 12 Indian hospitals involved in the Pan African E-Network project to provide free consultations and medical lectures, in addition to seven leading Indian universities offering scholarships.
The first phase has witnessed a number of achievements in line with the project’s objective.
Medical lectures have been broadcast on the telemedicine site since November 2009. Alexandria Regional Center achieved the highest percentage of attendees in the African countries in 2010, with 873 lectures held and 19,130 attendees participating until July 2013.
Phase two is to make Alexandria University and its hospital a significant regional centre in the African continent for educational and health services.
Watani International
6 September 2013