President Ernest Koroma commissions Tele Medicine in Sierra Leone

The National School of Nursing and the Connaught Hospital were scenes of great activity yesterday when President Ernest Bai Koroma was accompanied by a battery of his Cabinet Ministers to commission the newly installed Tele Medicine, Tele Education and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) facility designed ton serve the needs of E-connectivity in Sierra Leone. E-connectivity targets various components in the practice of medicine, the impartation of knowledge, and the facilitation of conversations between heads of sates in the African Union. In his opening address, Chairman of the Occasion, Professor Jonas Redwood Sawyer identified the E-net as a valuable tool in the pursuit and delivery of education as it can bring both students and teachers from across the globe to share knowledge. “The E-net is all about sharing” he said while commending the government of India for helping to cement the South-South Cooperation.

 He believed that the E-net would serve to reduce the impact of the brain drain when our brothers and sisters in the medical profession decided to leave Sierra Leone for greener pastures adding that most importantly, the opportunity created by the E-net for heads of states to discuss important matters of state thousands of miles apart is a novelty in itself. He referred to the E-connectivity as a serious project deserving the attention of all potential users and the support of government to make it fully operational.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Zainab Bangura,  on her own part thanked the line ministries especially the Minister of Information, I.B Katrgbo for his commitment in promoting an ideal whose time has come. She refereed to the Tele Medicine and Tele Education as a milestone in the relationship between Sierra Leone and India revealing that Sierra Leone is the thirty-second out of fifty-three nations in Africa to benefit from this all important E-connectivity and prayed that the provinces should not be left out of this beneficial project.

Zainab Bangura was sure that the E-net would benefit governance, medicine and education wherever it operates. “We deeply appreciate India’s vision of making the world a better place,” she averred.
A representative of the Indian Consul, Mr. Harrish assured that Sierra Leone is not alone in this endeavor to inform and be informed and that whole idea demonstrates government’s determination to take this country to higher heights. He assured that E-net will be beneficial to universities, hospitals and governance in helping to share information. He extolled the Indian Government for making available the necessary equipment including X-rays, scanners, telepathy cameras and memorizers towards the project.

Minister of Information and Communication, Alhaji I.B Kargbo in his brief statement said, “If I was a match Commissioner I would have declared that President Koroma has scored another vital goal in a tournament hosted by the Agenda for Change.” He went on to explain how Sierra Leone has come to this stage of commissioning the African E-net and its multiple advantages. He observed that for Sierra Leoneans to fully benefit from the African E-net otherwise known as the African Connectivity requires a lot of training for diverse man power and the provision of funds to make the facility fully operational.

President Koroma in his keynote address thanked all those who had contributed to the success of the day especially the man he enlisted to help the process, Vice President Samuel Sam Sumana who wasted no time in teaming up with others to achieve the goal. The President admitted they had difficulties at the initial stages of the project but that they had preserved to the sweet end and commended Minister I.B Kargbo for his great commitment to the project.

Finally, he thanked the Indian government and the African Union for signing the Memorandum of Understanding in July 2008 that gave birth to the E-connectivity. “From then on the Minister of Information never spoke anywhere without mentioning E-connectivity,” assuring that E-connectivity is an effort to get us all integrated and that is the way to development. Other speakers included the Minister of Education, Dr. Minkailu Bah and Health and Sanitation Minister, Sheku Koroma.

 

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