Interplay of cost and adoption of tele-medicine in Sub-Saharan Africa: The case of tele-cardiology in Ethiopia

...the barriers to diffusion of Tele-Medicine are not entirely technical. Cost has to simultaneously satisfy a number of stakeholders... (Anderson, Aydin and Jay, et al., 1994). Rising costs of the provision of healthcare have been a major issue for debate in both developing and developed countries. This is especially true of very capitalistic societies such as the United States where privatization of the healthcare sector has left many with little or no affordable healthcare. The situation is even worse in developing economies. Developing countries deal with various problems in the provision of health services and healthcare Tan et al. (E-medicine diffusion: E-medicine in Developed and Developing countries. Chapter 8 in E-health paradigm shift: Perspectives, domains and challenges. In Tan J. (Ed.), Imprint of Wiley, New York, Jossey-Bass, 2005). Some of these problems include acute shortages of healthcare professionals and medical facilities Mbarika et al. (Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS) 2005;6(5):130–170). Such shortages have resulted in growing numbers of middle to upper-class citizens of developing countries traveling abroad to seek necessary health services. Using a multi-method case study research, this paper examines the role of Tele-Medicine in the healthcare system and analyzes the costs and benefits of introducing Tele-Cardiology services in Ethiopia (a Sub-Saharan African country). This is a cost comparison study for the treatment of cardiac patients traveling abroad versus patients treated via Tele-Cardiology. Our findings show that Tele-Cardiology is clinically more feasible and more cost effective compared to patients traveling abroad for treatment. Mengistu Kifle is a Ph.D. candidate at University of Stockholm/KTH DSV. He holds MSc. in Computer Science. His research interest includes telemedicine and healthcare informatics in developing countries with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. His work has appeared (or forthcoming) in the form of book chapter, journals and international conference publications. Victor W. A. Mbarika received his Bachelor of Science in Management Information Science (MIS) in 1995 from United States International University, Nairobi and San Diego, CA, Masters in MIS from University of Illinois at Chicago, IL in 1997, and PHD in MIS from Auburn University, Auburn, AL in 2000. Dr. Victor W. A. Mbarika is on faculty in the College of Business at Southern University and A&M College. His research in Multimedia Learning and Telecommunications Diffusion in Developing Countries has been published (or are forthcoming) in 29 academic journals, four book chapters, and over 45 national and international conferences publications on Information Systems. Dr. Mbarika is Founder and President of Cameroon Computer and Network Center (CCNC). He has received several instructional and research awards and has published two academic books. (Website: http://www.mbarika.com.) Dr. Pratim Datta is an Assistant Professor of Information Systems at Washington State University. His research interests include IT infrastructure design and productivity, Virtual reality, Knowledge Management, and Global IT. He has published in AIS and ACM journals and international conferences such as the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) and the Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences (HICSS).