Reaching the Last Frontier: Video Conference Clinic in Belaga Health Clinic using the Tele-primary Care® System

Belaga District, in the heart of Borneo, is probably the most remote district in Sarawak. Up until 3 or 4 years ago, it was only accessible by an 8 hour express boat journey from Sibu, the nearest big town. Although Belaga town is now accessible by land (50% are timber camp unsealed road) from Bintulu, the journey takes 5 hours and transport cost is high. Accessibility to Belaga by river is also subject to weather conditions and the town often gets cut off during the dry season and also during the wet season. All these pose immense challenges to the delivery of health care services to the people of Belaga and greatly reduce their accessibility to even basic health services. Access to specialist services is even more challenging as it is only available in Sibu and Bintulu; and visiting clinics in Belaga are infrequent due to the shortage of specialists and difficult transport.