United Nations/ India/ ESA Regional Workshop on Using Space Technology for Tele-health to benefit Asia & the Pacific Country Presentation – Sri Lanka Dr. S. Terrence G.R. de Silva Deputy Director General (Medical Services) Dept. of Health Services – Sri Lanka

Socio-economic Indicators Demographic Data Total population -20 million Population Density -307 persons per sq. km Urban population -14.6% Socio-economic Indicators Per capita GNP - Rs. 176,890/= (US $ 1599/=) Adult literacy Rate - 90.1%

Vital Statistics Crude birth rate- 18.9 per 1000 population Crude death rate- 5.9 per 1000 population Life expectancy at birth - 73.0 years (Male Female combined) Neonatal mortality rate-10.6 per 1000 live births Infant mortality rate - 11.2 per 1000 live births Maternal mortality rate-1.9 per 10,000 live births

                                                                                                                                  Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka Is a small Island. 62,705 sq. km Length 435 km Width 225 km Central mountainous region peak height – 2,524 meters

Sri Lanka 9 Provinces 26 Health Districts 280 Medical Officers of Health Divisions

Is there a need for tele-medicine? Access limited for certain sub-specialties like Cardiology, Neurology, Neurosurgery. Shortage of Consultants in some provinces due to the current conflict situation in North & East provinces. High cost for transportation of patients. New technology is expensive. Demand for Teaching in periphery.

The objectives of a tele-medicine project in Sri Lanka To provide an opportunity to obtain the opinion of consultants in places where there are no consultants. (In clinical care, laboratory reports interpretation, radiology consultants) For teaching purposes. To obtain the 2nd opinion in respect of difficult cases.

Current Situation Two major hospitals help out other hospitals in the periphery. The National Hospital of Sri Lanka- Colombo (Situated in the western province, capital of Sri Lanka.) Teaching Hospital, Kandy (Situated in the central province, hill capital of Sri Lanka)

Current Situation Peripheral Hospitals District General Hospital, Ampara - Eastern Province Base Hospital, Dehiattakandiya - Eastern Province Teaching Hospital, Anuradapura - North Central Province District General Hospital, Hambantota – Southern Province District General Hospital, Badulla - Uva Province District General Hospital, Mahiyangana – Uva Province Divisional Hospital, Bandarawela – Uva Province

Available Resources The following Instruments are available in above mentioned hospitals Two PC with servers Scanner Web Camera Digital Camera Lease line

Difficulties Difficult to link with above hospitals due to lease line congestion. Lack of knowledge about Telemedicine of staff . Lack of awareness about importance of Telemedicine. No proper maintenance of equipments due to lack of technical knowledge. High cost of instruments

Future Plans Training of staff (From consultants to minor employees) Awareness programmes for staff and public regarding Telemedicine. General net work link with all the hospitals in Sri Lanka. Budgetary allocations for the permanent staff to run the Telemedicine projects in each hospital. Purchasing of Equipment.

Distant Teaching/ Learning Programmes The Postgraduate Institute of Medicine conducts distant training programmes using dedicated web sides. The students from all parts of the countries access these web sites in order to follow the courses. Students without computers use the closest computer laboratory of the Ministry of Higher Education.

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