TELE-HEALTHCARE FOR OVERSEAS BANGLADESHI WORKERS

By P. Vijian

NEW DELHI, Feb 18 (Bernama) -- A Bangladeshi company is taking telemedicine
to an innovative level, by promoting medical care among its two million overseas
workers, many of whom have limited access to decent healthcare.

The Dhaka-based Telemedicine Reference Centre Ltd (TRCL), which innovated
and successfully introduced telemedicine facility in Bangladesh for the local
population, now plans to launch a similar service worldwide this April.

"For only US$1 (RM3.50), any Bangladeshi worker overseas, whether they are
in Malaysia or the Gulf, can dial a local number to reach our 24/7 (24 hours,
seven days a week) call centre to consult our doctors.

"No country can provide total healthcare for the migrant population, so we
provide the consultation, whether its for common cold or stomach pain, and in
serious cases, we refer to the nearest hospital in the (respective) country,"
TRCL founder and managing director Dr Sikder M. Zakir told Bernama.

TRCL, a brainchild of Dr Sikder, a physician himself, would collaborate with
foreign telecommunication companies to introduce the mobile phone-based
healthcare service.



With its success at home, where TRCL receives about 10,000 calls per day for
consultations, neighbouring countries like India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, which
have large numbers of their workers abroad, have shown interest in the
telemedicine model.

"Governments in the region are also showing interest. This model could soon
become a multinational programme," said Dr Sikder.

Eventually, TRCL, which is trying to marry technology and healthcare, would
set up multi-linguistic medical call centers in these countries to promote
tele-medicine.

-- BERNAMA