Solar telemedicine kiosks expand healthcare access across rural Chad

Ache Kodo used to save money for months before she could afford to see a doctor. Living in Bitkine, in central Chad, a medical visit meant scraping together funds not just for the consultation itself but for transport to a larger town, accommodation, and all the logistics that came with traveling hundreds of kilometers from home. The math was brutal: a single doctor's visit could cost $200 or more once everything was added up. For a family already living on thin margins, that choice often meant going without care.

Then a solar-powered kiosk arrived in her community, and the equation changed. Now Ache can consult with a doctor remotely through a Telemedan unit, paying between $2 and $15 depending on what she needs. She no longer has to choose between her family's health and their next meal. "It was difficult before, as it involved me saving money to travel just to see a doctor," she told Al Jazeera. "Now I'm able to do it on time with fewer costs from where I am. It has also enhanced my economic status."

The barrier to healthcare in rural Chad was never just the shortage of doctors. Abakar Mahamat, who founded Telemedan in 2021, understood this intimately. Growing up in the country, he saw that medical facilities and specialists clustered in cities and larger towns, leaving vast stretches of the countryside without basic services. Distance itself became a form of deprivation. "The problem wasn't only the lack of doctors," Abakar said. "It was also the distance between those doctors and the communities that needed them." His solution was to use technology to collapse that distance, bringing consultations to people rather than forcing people to travel to consultations.

The kiosks themselves are elegantly simple. Solar panels and batteries power each unit, eliminating dependence on a grid that often doesn't exist or doesn't work reliably in rural areas. A trained local operator registers patients and takes basic measurements using blood-pressure monitors, glucometers, thermometers, pulse oximeters, and ECG machines. A doctor appears on screen, guiding the operator through an examination in real time. Some kiosks are equipped with diagnostic tools like stethoscopes, temperature sensors, and even ultrasound equipment. The system is built for places where internet fails regularly: patient data can be stored locally and synced when connectivity returns. For people without internet access at all, an USSD service allows them to book appointments and access health information through basic mobile networks. Depending on location, kiosks connect through mobile networks or satellite links.

Telemedan began as a pilot project and has grown with support from grants and partnerships with Chad's Ministry of Public Health and Prevention. The initiative now operates 37 kiosks across 11 provinces and has reached an estimated 143,000 people. The organization has also begun using artificial intelligence to screen for diabetic retinopathy, a vision-damaging complication of diabetes, though the technology is designed to assist healthcare professionals rather than replace them. Each kiosk costs about $10,000 to build and deploy. Telemedan sells the units to governments, public health programs, and partner organizations, which then operate them—meaning patients don't bear the infrastructure cost themselves.

But a kiosk has limits. It cannot provide emergency treatment or perform every examination. Patients needing specialist care, laboratory tests, medicines, or hospital admission still have to reach the next level of the health system. The real work of sustainability lies in what happens after the equipment is installed: keeping it functioning, maintaining connectivity, training local operators, ensuring doctors are available when patients need them, and building pathways for people who need care beyond what a kiosk can offer.

Chad's government has recognized telemedicine's potential. The country established a National Telemedicine Programme in 2021 and launched its National Digital Health Programme in 2023. The Ministry of Health is developing a legal and regulatory framework for digital health services. Youssouf Silay, an assistant to the coordinator of Chad's National Digital Health Programme, told Al Jazeera that the country's National Health Development Plan for 2022–2030 identifies digital health as a way to expand access to care, particularly in areas with limited medical and energy infrastructure. "Solutions such as solar-powered telemedicine kiosks can contribute to this effort by bringing healthcare services closer to underserved populations," he said.

Telemedan's ambition extends beyond Chad. The organization wants to reach one million people in rural communities across sub-Saharan Africa. Abakar is clear about what he's building: not a replacement for hospitals or doctors, but a sustainable layer of healthcare infrastructure that shortens the distance between patients and the health system. "We want Telemedan to become a sustainable layer of healthcare infrastructure, not simply a collection of technology projects," he said. Whether that vision holds depends on whether the kiosks keep working, whether the connections hold, and whether the systems supporting them—training, maintenance, referrals—can be sustained over time.