An agreement was signed between Telemedicine Working Group of Bangladesh (TWGBD) and Grameenphone at GPHouse, corporate head office of Grameenphone on December 08, 2011 in order to increase accessibility of specialized dermatology services for the rural community.

In Bangladesh, 30% of the total population suffers to skin diseases in life time and although many of these deseases are not life-threatening, early diagnosis and treatment is important to avoid futher complications.

However, in Bangladesh there are less than 300 specialist dermatogists, all of who are urban-based. As a result, rural patients suffering from skin diseases have to travel for several hours into the city just for a 15-minute consultation with a specialized dermatologist which is not only time-consuming but very expensive especially for the patients belonging to a poor family.

To address this issue Prof. Reza Bin Zaid, Chairman TWGBD and Tore Johnsen, CEO from Grameenphone inked the deal to initiate the pilot teledermatology project through Communicaty Information Centers (CIC).

This project will enable patients suffering from skin diseases to consult with a specialized doctor realtime via store and forward method with the help of Digital Imaging and Communication in Telemedicine (DICOT) & Telemedicine Information, Management and Education System (TIMES).

For the pilot phase, 4 CICs will be equipped with all the telemedicine hardware (DICOT) and software (TIMES). The CICs will also provide a printed version of the online prescription and will maintain a database of each consultation for lifetime for future reference. 

The pilot project is expected to make specialized dermatology healthcare services more accessible while improving health outcomes and reducing the cost involved.
Tore Johnsen, CEO from Grameenphone said, ”Grameenphone has always believed in playing pivotal role to develop the nation. This initiative will provide quality dermatological healthcare services to patients in remote localities. At the same time, this project will be another step forward to digitalize Bangladesh.”
Upon the successful implementation of the initial pilot phase, other services can be  incorporated like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases etc.
Grameenphone is a responsible citizen of Bangladesh and has always recognized their social responsibilites especially towards the less privileged sections of the society by putting special focus on the healthcare needs of the country.

Corporate Communications Department
Grameenphone Ltd.
Telephone: 9882990
Website: www.grameenphone.com