Bucharest, July 11, 2018 – a total of 700 patients living in disadvantaged rural communities from Timis and Caras-Severin counties, most of whom are elderly people unable to transfer to the hospital, have been provided with high quality medical services via a telemedicine solution. The solution has enabled specialist physicians to provide over 1,300 remote consultations between July 2017 and June 2018 under a project developed by the Profilaxis Medical Help Foundation and supported by the Vodafone Romania Foundation with funds worth nearly RON 650,000 granted through the Connecting for Good Program. Almost half of the 700 patients in the two counties do not have public health insurance.
Launched in 2016, the project involves a team of specialist physicians based in Timisoara and a mobile team that travels back and forth to five operating points: Ghilad, Buziaş, Sânnicolau Mare and Deta (Timiş County) and Bocşa (Caraş-Severin County). By means of portable medical investigation equipment and an internet connection the results of onsite medical consultations can be interpreted in real time by a specialist physician located in Timisoara.
In the absence of the telemedicine solution, the target patients would have been supposed to travel between 30 and 50 km to get to the nearest located specialized physician. The consultations provided during the project have covered specialties such as cardiology and internal medicine, addressing vital-risk conditions that are recording the highest mortality rate in the western part of the country. To enhance the diversity of the medical act, the telemedicine solution also covers four other specialties, namely endocrinology, dermatology, ophthalmology and pulmonology.
In addition to contributing to the improvement of patients’ health status, the results of the project have helped with the current activity of the hospitals in Deta and Sânnicolau Mare, which are faced with the lack of specialized doctors. As a result of the implementation of this project, the awareness of the importance of regular medical checks among patients has increased and the number of the uninsured patients resorting to the emergency services of the two hospital polyclinics has decreased.
The Vodafone Romania Foundation is a Romanian nongovernmental charitable organization, established in 1998, which operates separately and independently from the Vodafone Romania SA’s business. During its 20 years of activity, Vodafone Romania Foundation has funded 1,104 programs run by 706 NGOs throughout the country, in the fields of healthcare, education and social services. These projects had a total of 2.7 million beneficiaries – children, young and old people and physically, socially or economically disadvantaged people. So far, Vodafone Romania has invested over 28 million euros in projects run by nonprofit partner organizations. More details about the Foundation’s programs are available at fundatia-vodafone.ro, http://jurnaldebine.fundatia-vodafone.ro/ and www.facebook.com/fundatiavodafone
The Profilaxis Medical Help Foundation is a non-governmental organization established in 1997 in Timisoara. The mission of the foundation is to increase the quality of life of children, adults and elderly people by developing medical, social and educational services. Further details about the projects and activities of the Profilaxis Medical Help Foundation, past and present, are available on www.fundatiaprofilaxis.ro.
