Continuing Education Programme, Department of Community Health Sciences (CHS) at Aga Khan University (AKU), Karachi, Pakistan is offering a short course on "Telemedicine & Telehealth - Concepts, Technology & Planning” ". The course is offered every year, and after successfully completing two rounds in year 2008 & 2009, the course for the year 2010 starts from June 7-12 , at the Aga Khan University.

Introduction of Telemedicine & Telehealth
Health care in developing countries is characterised by paucity of qualified doctors, non-availability of specialists and specialised care, late discovery of ailment and delay in access to appropriate treatment. Patients also travel long distances for the required care, which results in wastage of time and resources. Use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to provide health care at a distance (also termed as Telemedicine/Telehealth) has proven to be a promising modality for delivering health when provider and client, or provider and provider, cannot meet face-to face because of geography or convenience. Telemedicine/ Telehealth has also been used to provide cost-effective and high-quality healthcare to urban areas.

eHealth is an umbrella term used to describe all ICT applications in health care. On the basis of its applications, eHealth has been classified into three main domains i) Telemedicine/ Telehealth, ii) eLlearning iii) Health Informatics. This course focuses mainly on Telehealth, which can be described as an expansion of telemedicine, to encompass preventive, promotive and curative aspects of health care.
           
Telemedicine/ Telehealth is increasingly being viewed as a tool for improving care and enhancing access to health care in both developing and developed countries. Countries where the majority of the population lives in rural areas and where health care facilities are inefficient and inadequate, Telemedicine/ Telehealth can contribute substantially in bridging the gap between the demand and supply. The main uses of eHhealth in developing countries have been to improve access to health care services, enhance the quality of care by making patient data and other relevant information available to the health care providers at the point of care.

Rationale of the Course
It is important for the health care providers, managers, IT professionals and policy makers to understand the importance of Telehealth, and learn about the steps in planning its applications. This course will focus on needs and readiness assessment of health care institutions, technologies used for Telemedicine/ Telehealth implementation, and planning of Telemedicine/ Telehealth programmes using real-life examples.

Objectives of the Course
The course has following objectives:

• To provide basic understanding of eHealth concepts, technologies and live demonstrations of telehealth programme;
• To discuss examples of Telemedicine/ Telehealth programmes for better understanding of the concepts;
• To understand the steps involved in planning a Telemedicine/ Telehealth programme;
• To learn about evaluation of telehealth programme;
• To get basic idea of Telemedicine/ Telehealth research and identify gaps.

Educational Strategies
A mix of local and international faculty will be invited to teach this course. The local faculty will instruct through interactive sessions at AKU, whereas the international faculty will be asked to conduct their sessions virtually, using Elluminate .  Participants may be expected to make presentations on assigned topics.  Field visits are scheduled to observe use of Telemedicine/ Telehealth in different health care settings.

Who Should Attend
Clinicians and other health care workers; informatics researchers; government health care representatives and policy makers, managers, IT professionals; and others who want to learn more about Telemedicine/ Telehealth in their professional practice.

Medium of Instruction
Medium of instruction of the course is English. Participants are expected to be proficient enough to comprehend, read and write in English language.

Course Fee
The tuition fee of the course is Rs 15,000/- (US $ 215/- applicable for international participants) which covers classroom instructions, course material, and food & refreshment during working hours. Due to limited seats, participants will be selected on first come first serve basis.

Duration of the Workshop
The duration of this course is 6 days.

Deadline to Receive Applications
Kindly send brief CV along with filled registration form of the desired candidates latest by April 20, 2010 to:
Mr Amin Hirani
Senior Programme Officer
Continuing Education Programme
Department of CHS
Email: amin.hirani@aku.edu  
For more information call +92-21-34864839, 34864802, 34864811

Course Facilitators

Dr Shariq Khoja
Dr Shariq Khoja is a Medical graduate of Aga Khan University (AKU), with Masters and PhD in eHealth from University of Calgary, Canada. Dr Khoja works as Assistant Professor with department of CHS and coordinates eHealth Plan for Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi and the Aga Khan Development Network. He has extensive background and interest in using eHealth technologies to facilitate health care services and education. His research interests focus on creating evidence and policies to guide the implementation of eHealth in developing countries. Dr Khoja is currently leading the project called ‘PAN Asian Collaboration for evidence-based eHealth Adoption and Application (PANACeA)', which supports collaborative research in 17 Asian countries to create evidence for eHealth implementation. Dr Khoja chairs the e-Learning Technical Committee, and is member of eHealth task force and Skills lab group at AKU. Dr Khoja is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary.

Dr Richard E. Scott
Dr Richard E. Scott is an Associate Professor in the Global eHealth Research and Training Program of the Centre for Innovation in Health Technology, University of Calgary. He is also a Canadian Harkness Associate (2004-2005), and a Fulbright New Century Scholar (2001-2002) alumnus; experiences that opened his policy and global perspectives, respectively. He now focuses his interests on examining the role of eHealth (Telehealth + Health Informatics) in the globalisation of health care, including aspects impacting the implementation and integration of eHealth globally and locally (‘glocal’ eHealth). Internationally, Richard is a member of the U21 Global eHealth Committee, Chairperson of the WHO GOe-U21 Global eHealth Policy Working Group, and Chairperson of the UN-OOSA eHealth Policy Working Group. He is also a member of the Advisory Board for a new initiative - the Commonwealth eHealth Programme.
Dr Scott was President of the Canadian Society of Telehealth (CST) in 2004-2006, and is now the Immediate Past-President and current Chairperson of the CST’s International Special Interest Group. Richard is also Director of NTConsulting, providing education and services in strategic eHealth development and assessment.

Dr Zahid Ali Faheem
Dr Faheem is a Medical doctor, with post graduate degree in Family Medicine, and diplomas in Program Management and Quality Improvement. He has extensive experience working in leading positions in the International NGOs, managing programmes such as HMIS, health promotion, Staged Diabetes management and Integrated Management of Childhood Diseases. 

Dr Hammad Durrani
Dr Hammad Durrani is the Research Manager for PANACeA initiative. Hammad is a trained physician with Masters in Health Policy and Management. He has been involved in conducting the systematic review on Telehealth in Asia, and will continue to take this responsibility for other projects as well.

Course Facilitator & Organiser

Saira Nigar
Saira Nigar is the Senior Communication Officer for the PANACeA Project. Besides being communication responsibility for PANACeA from the platform of CHS, she has undertaken the responsible as the organiser of the third Telehealth short course.