Charitable coalition for developing world
An initiative seeking to improve health provision to developing and
post-conflict countries got a new boost this summer, when medical
experts from global universities joined forces with telemedicine charity
The Swinfen Charitable Trust.
Through the partnership, Universitas 21 — an international network
for higher education bringing together some of the leading research-led
universities in the world — will be able to ‘bring to bear’ its current
expertise and research, through the charity, which establishes
telemedicine links between hospitals in remote places with medical
specialists around the globe.
“My wife and I are both excited by the prospect of being able to help
a greater number of doctors and medical staff in remote locations to
improve the treatment that they give their patients in difficult or
unusual cases”, said Lord Swinfen, who set up the Canterbury-based
charity with Lady Swinfen in 1988.
The University of Queensland’s Professor Peter Brooks, for
Universitas 21’s Health Sciences Group, was equally enthusiastic: “This
will provide an opportunity to expand the Swinfen Charitable Trust
teleconsulting services to hospitals in developing countries and
encourage health students from U21 faculties to spend their electives at
these institutions as well as developing a research agenda for
telehealth.”
The Swinfen Charitable Trust provides medical expertise that is
practically unobtainable in certain international communities,
especially where hospitals are out of reach or under-staffed. It is
currently working with 69 hospitals in 23 countries the largest number
being in Iraq. Lady Swinfen received an MBE in 2005 for her services to
telemedicine overseas.
Source: bjhc&im September 2006
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