Medical Campaign uses GNU Health, openSUSE

NUREMBERG, Germany, Oct. 19, 2022 - A recent campaign of medical-surgical assistance in Senegal by a Non-Governmental Organization highlights the benefits of using open-source software.

A team from Cirugía Solidaria, which is an NGO that provides medical assistance in disadvantaged countries along with other health promotional activities, conducted a campaign from Sept. 23 to Oct. 3 with the Foundation Elizabeth Diouf.

The campaign involved several medical professionals carrying out medical assistance while using open-source technologies from GNU Health and the openSUSE Project.

The use of GNU Health, which is a Hospital Management Information System, allowed for the multidisciplinary team, which included nurses, surgeons, pediatricians, gynecologist and more, to organize and facilitate daily medical care during the medical assistance campaign. The technology on the team’s devices and the printer that were all running on a local server using openSUSE, and this gave the team maximal opportunity to organize, evaluate and treat patients.

The 10 uninterrupted days of operating simultaneously with four consultations, five surgical tables, a resuscitation room and about 40 hospital beds allowed the team to see 1,200 patients from different districts and regions of Senegal as well as perform about 370 surgeries, which included 77 for children; eight were urgent.

This is the second health program in Africa that has been highlighted using GNU Health and openSUSE software. Last year, thousands of patients in the coastal area of Kribi, Cameroon, at Ebomé Hospital used these open-source solutions to expand health-care delivery in West Africa.

Some of the team and members from GNU Health and openSUSE are expected to attend the GNU Health Conference next month.