Zambia signs up to e-network project

The African Union (AU) has entered into an agreement with the Indian Government to undertake the Pan-African Tele-Medicine and the Tele-Education project among member states of the AU. Ambassador Sinyinza said Zambia had now become the 27th African Country to sign up to the Project. "Dr. Miti (Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health) signed the agreement on behalf of the Zambian Government and Ratan Singh, Project Director, Telecommunications Consultant India Limited based in Addis Ababa, signed on behalf of the Indian Government.

"The Project to which 26 African Countries have already signed up aims at developing the ICT (Information, Communication Technology) infrastructure in African countries in order to facilitate access to the modern and specialized expert consultancy services in medicine and education for the benefit of mostly, the large populations in the rural and remote areas." Ambassador Sinyinza said the Indian Government was financing the project over a period of five years through a grant to the AU. He said the project would create an electronic network using satellite-based technologies of the speciality hospitals, universities and expert consultants and researchers in African countries. Ambassador Sinyinza hoped that the ministries of health, communications and education would jointly implement the project in Zambia.

http://www.ebrain.org.zm/news.php?id=32