Nepal Wireless

Since February, 2009, I have been working as a Research Fellow in the University of Agder, Norway. My research interests are ICT4D, eGov, and Socio-Technical Theories. I am particularly interested in analyzing the interaction process between ICT and Social Capital and its consequences in remote areas of developing countries. Articles written in this blog are writer's own reflections, which is mainly based upon personal experiences and insights taken from literature readings. Please click on the following link to read my blog,

http://devinder-ict4d.blogspot.com/

While we are satisfied some with our successes to date, we also realize that still more improvement is required. The goal is to make tele-medicine a viable health opportunity for rural community.
While we have invested in some of the necessary technology, further work and investment is needed to reach a point where the telemedicine works perfectly helping to address the shortage of doctors in the rural clinics. The major investment required for telemedicine is

 The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) define the distant site as the telehealth site where the provider/specialist is seeing the patient at a distance or consulting with a patient’s provider. Others common names for this term include – hub site, specialty site, provider/physician site and referral site.
Originating Site:CMS defines originating site as the site where the patient and/or the patient’s physician is located during the telehealth encounter or consult. Other common names for this term include – spoke site, patient site, remote site, and rural site.

Digital Divide" and "Digital Gap" have been big words in the past few years. Organizations like the United Nations and others have organized many conferences and have launched campaigns to address this issue. 

Developed and developing countries are talking to each other to find what they can do to bring the computers and the Internet within the reach of the poor people. Everybody seems very much worried about finding ways to make the digital gap narrower. So is the Nepal Wireless Networking Project, seriously speaking.

So far we are moving at slower speed for two reasons. The first reason is that we were testing different things and learning ideas to find ways to maximize the benifits of wireless networks in the isolated remote villages of Nepal. Secondly we did not have enough resources to expand the wireless network in larger areas of Nepal.

Whatever we have been able to do is because of the financial and technical supports of some individuals, businesses, non-profit organizations, and international organizations (such as International Telecommunication Union, World Bank). So far we have not gotten any support from the Government of Nepal even though we approached them in 2007. We have also submitted a concept plan for 2008 to build wireless networks that includes 19 districts. The government is positive about the proposal but has indicated a shortfall in available funds. Moreover, it will take some time for the political parties to resolve all the political issues in Nepal.