The MoU agreement was signed between the NGO Health and Nutrition Development Society (HANDS) by Dr Sheikh Tanveer; DUHS Registrar Prof Dr Amanullah Abbasi; 6and Educast (Pvt) Ltd. Chief Executive Abdullah Butt.
The signing event was overseen by Prof Dr Muhammed Saeed Quraishy, Vice Chancellor, DUHS and Prof Dr Zarnaz Wahid, Pro Vice Chancellor DUHS and Head of eDoctor training program.
According to the MoU, out-of-work lady doctors from different medical institutions of Pakistan would be brought together by eDoctor training program, which will be expanded through HANDS. HANDS will make this service available to local people through the help of their network in various areas of the country.
eDoctor, which is country’s first ever program to retrain and certify out-of-work lady doctors in and outside Pakistan, has started gaining worldwide recognition after completing its first year of pilot batch of 500 Pakistani lady doctors in and out of the country. eDoctor is an Academic –Private MedTech initiative already supported by Federal Govt and leading national and international healthcare organizations.
DUHS and Saudi overseas Pakistani technology investor group Educast initiated this platform last year and is now training more than 500 Pakistani lady doctors, from Pakistan to North America, Europe, Middle East and Far East.
In this program healthcare experts use innovative virtual educational platforms to deliver lectures to home based lady doctors using Flip model, and in return those lady doctors can ask questions on their queries. This program carries 30 CME credit hours and is of 6-month duration.
HANDS is Pakistan’s leading healthcare organization as well as social sector network founded by renowned pediatrician Prof Dr Abdul Ghaffar Billo 20 years ago, and has interventions in more than 40 areas of the country, as well as in Nepal and UK.
eDoctor and HANDS have now planned to use Triple Helix model, Public Institution-Social Sector Organization- Private Sector joint initiative to seek international funding to bring back these tens of thousands of out-of-work lady doctors in national healthcare system.
Approx. Rs 5 million is spent on getting one doctor professionally qualified.
Currently, eDoctor has brought Rs. 2.5 billion worth of lost investment back into national health system through use of Physical-Electronic healthcare service providers. eDoctor program and its trained lady doctors through HANDS national healthcare network have spread to over 40 districts through use of Innovative eHealth and Tele Medicine. eDoctor is a virtual training platform for out-of-work lady doctors spread globally.
Currently eDoctor trainees are more than 500 from different parts of the world.