Intel unveils IT scheme for China's rural clinics
By Zhan Lisheng (China Daily)Updated: 2006-10-31 08:42
Intel Corp yesterday unveiled a plan to improve healthcare in 105 clinics and
hospitals in rural parts of Zhanjiang over the next two years.
Working
with the Ministry of Health, the municipal government of Zhanjiang and several
domestic technology companies, Intel will help provide computers, telemedicine
equipment and Internet access to the city's rural hospitals and
clinics.
The new technology is designed to make the hospitals and clinics
accessible to real-time video and help staff create digital health
records.
The plan is a key part of the firm's contribution to China's
"New Countryside Initiative," under which it will help promote IT in rural
areas.
"How to better inform, educate and care for people living in rural
areas is one of the major challenges faced by any government," said Intel
Chairman Craig Barrett, who is currently visiting China, yesterday. "Intel is
working with China to overcome the challenge."
He said Intel will also
support the provincial government of Guangdong in establishing 300 rural
community computing service centres, which will be equipped with computers with
reliable, high-speed Internet connections by the end of this year.
The
centres are designed to enable rural people to access vast medical, educational
and commercial information resources.
Intel plans to spend US$30 million
on the initiative, not only setting up community computing service centres, but
also developing computers tailor-made for rural areas and training rural people
in how to use them.
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