Compare and Contrast Essay on Telemedicine in Ghana, Australia, and the UK

Reliable and effective information sharing is critical in healthcare system because it facilitates monitoring and prevention of diseases. Telemedicine is understood as the process of using telecommunication to provide healthcare services from a distance. With the development of information technology, most developed countries like UK and Australia has embraced the use of telemedicine as one way to improve the health care access. However, even though the developing countries in Africa like Ghana suffer from inadequate resources that make it difficult to access healthcare services, they have also tried to incorporate technology in the healthcare as a way to enhance healthcare system. With the introduction of telemedicine services in Ghana, its healthcare system has significantly changed and is almost similar to those of the developed countries like UK and Australia. The new technology in the healthcare sector that was rolled out in 2010 July has significantly improved health care access in Ghana, especially in the remote areas. This paper is going to compare the telemedicine in Ghana to Australia and UK.

Telemedicine and Health

Telemedicine can be categorized into three main sectors; for instance: The remote patient monitoring which involves providing care services to patients with chronic diseases at their comfort homes using mobile medical services (Mbarika, 2004). Through this process, the care provider can be able to monitor the blood sugar level, blood pressure, and any other critical or vital signs. Another category is the store and forward telemedicine which helps in sharing of patients medical tests from laboratory services to a patient through the doctor or care provider who is in different locations. Lastly, is the interactive telemedicine that enables both doctor or care provider to freely interact with the patients in real time. The interaction can be either through phone call or video chat conference.

Just like the other developing countries in Africa, access to healthcare services and medicine is a great challenge for the majority of residents Ghana (Michael, 2009). However, in the effort to strengthen and enhance the healthcare system, the government has tried through partnership with the other global partners like the World Health Organization and local organizations like Millenium Villages Project (MVP), National Health Insurance Agency, Ghana Health Service, and Ghana Medical Association, to input more resources in the health sector to be able to reach out to many poor people in the remote areas and improve the quality of primary healthcare (Afarikumah, 2014).

According to Brinkel, Dako-Gyeke, Kramer, May, and Fobi (2017), the ICTs is one of the vital tools that is used in the healthcare system to combat diseases, promote the individual health and make the healthcare system more efficient and effective. Ghana is one of the Africas countries that have significantly embraced technology as a tool for combating health problems (Agarwal, Perry, Long & Labrique, 2015). Technology can be powerful in monitoring the outbreak and spread of diseases and also allows sharing and dissemination of information from one organ of the government to another to facilitate the prevention and control mechanism. However, Ghana like any other African country suffers the challenge of ineffective mobilization of the ICTs to ensure that the health problems are contained and managed. In July 2010, the government of Ghana rolled out a new e-health system strategy to help combat the health challenges especially in the remote areas where the majority of people are poor and are unable to access quality healthcare services. One of the key strategies under the new e-health system was to streamline the regulatory framework for the health data and information management. However, among other strategies included enhancing and facilitating the healthcare access among the citizens of Ghana and bridge the equity gap in the health system via the use of information and communication technology system. According to Afarikumah (2014), the project that started in Bonsaaso cluster in Ghana in 2010 has since seen many people gain healthcare access and their lives improved. However, the government through the health ministry still struggles with the fight against Malaria and HIV/AIDS that have greatly affected most parts of the rural areas in Ghana.

Network Infrastructure and Internet Access

Establishment of a good network infrastructure is essential for any ICT strategy. The existence of good network infrastructure enhances the communication, information and resource sharing (Mechael, 2008). In Ghana unlike UK and Australia, the situation is quite challenging especially with the high poverty level and poor infrastructure that make the infrastructure inaccessible for many (Afarikumah, 2014). Ghana is not fully connected with the internet services and the network infrastructure is poor that makes it difficult to implement the telemedicine effectively. Telemedicine in Ghana is struggling with the challenges of poor infrastructure especially in the rural areas where there are minimal internet or networking systems that can facilitate the communication process (Afarikumah, 2014). The country is not connected within itself and does not have a nationwide network system. Therefore, there is an inadequate network resource both at the national and the regional levels. However, despite the shortcomings in the ICT sector, the majority of healthcare institutions struggle with the use of computing and communication gadgets. Majority of the institutions that struggle with the integration of the ICT in the health sector depend on their efforts to establish a network that can serve them. Therefore, the challenges and difficulties in fully implementing the ICT in the health sector make it difficult to share information within the health sector in Ghana. However, the government has also tried to improve the infrastructure through its programs such as the Budget and Public Expenditure Management System (BPEMS) project (Afarikumah, 2014). The internet cyber cafes are commonly found in the urban areas. Therefore, the majority of Ghanaians who live in the rural areas are unable to access the internet efficiently. However, to ensure that the country continues to improve its network infrastructure, the government has involved the network partners like the major telecommunication provider, Ghana Telecom to increase its investment in networking and communication services across the country.

Further, the high rate of poverty makes it difficult for the effective implementation of the program because many people do not only lack the internet but cannot afford the expensive cost associated with the program (Brinkel et al., 2017). For instance, communicating via a phone requires airtime and through computer requires internet connection; all which majority of the rural areas in Ghana lack. Poor roads as well make it difficult for the mobile doctors to access the areas to see patients.

Telemedicine did not start in the UK yesterday or recently as it happened in Ghana. The UK embraced telemedicine since the early 1990s and the overall improvement has been steady and consistent (Kierkegaard, 2015). In Ghana, telemedicine was first launched in 2010 and it is still experiencing more challenges that continue to inhibit its effective implementation. Telemedicine in the UK is considered a game changer for health and social care because people can easily access the information through the internet and via the phone easily due to enhanced and improved ICT infrastructure. However, there are still some challenges in the United Kingdom that also makes the implementation of e-health system difficult. For instance, the system has been claimed to be ineffective in one of the cases in mid-2010 where the SCR or summary care record system was suspended following the claim by the general practitioners that the system was denying them the opportunity to help their clients make informed decisions (Jolly, 2011). However, the problem was resolved and by mid-2011 over 6 million new subscribers had joined in the system in the UK. This kind of faster solution can only be found in countries with effective system and management. The infrastructure development in the developed countries like the UK has facilitated the effective implementation of the telemedicine services.

In Australia, telemedicine service is considered a significant contributor to the health sector and the economy through GDP (Bartlett, Butler, & Rogan, 2016). Of course, telemedicine can contribute to a growth in the economy through GDP as it involves the employment of ICT personnel and other experts in the health sector. Australia has the potential to sell the telemedicine and other telehealth services to other countries abroad; thus, contributing to the growth of the economy and GDP. As a result, the country is able to invest in foreign healthcare institutions. However, as a contributor to the health system, the integration of telemedicine services in the health sector has significantly improved the health services in general. In 2014, Australia was ranked among the best six countries that have the best and efficient healthcare system in the world (Bartlett et al., 2016). In 2013, Australia was ranked number seven among; therefore, the consistently ranks shows that Australia has not only improved its healthcare system but also advanced in providing quality healthcare services to its people. Just like in the UK, telemedicine services started in Australia decades ago and its progress has been recorded as tremendous and almost fully successful.

Security Data Protection

The issue of security data protection is a major element of concern in the ICT system especially in the health sector as it requires more protective system. Developed countries like UK and Australia have a system or even laws including the cyber laws that deal with the network security and data protection. The use of antivirus and other protective mechanisms like firewalls and intrusion detection systems in the health institutions help reduce the cases of unauthorized access of information in the system (Yusif & Jeffrey, 2014). Ghana is still struggling with the implementation of the telemedicine services and at the same time trying to enact the laws that can ensure that patient information is not manipulated or accessed by unauthorized persons. However, currently, there is no legal framework that has been identified to help deal with the patient data confidentiality and data protection in Ghana (Yusif & Jeffrey, 2014). As a result of this shortage in the policy system, it possesses a great threat to the implementation of telemedicine programs in Ghana. Unlike the developed countries like Australia and UK where there is safeguarding system that ensures that access to patients electronic records is carried out according to the provisions of the law and also with the consent of the patient. For instance, in Australia is equipped with the cybercrime laws that ensure that the internet use is regulated, controlled and monitored. Being one of the developed and highly connected countries in the world, Australia has cybercrime policies including the most recent Cybercrime Legislation Amendment Bill of 2011 that was passed in 2012 with the aim of aligning the country with the other 34 countries in the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime (Moffatt & Eley, 2011). However, detailed legal framework relating to cybercrime is included in the Criminal Code Act of 1995 (criminal code). The UK, on the other hand, is also equipped with the legal framework which highlights the issues relating to cybercrime including the Computer Misuse Act....