Now a doctor in Mumbai can connect with a patient in Bolangir
According to the latest CRISIL report on healthcare,
70% population of India resides in rural areas but more than 75% doctors are based in cities. For the poor villagers, access to healthcare is still difficult, and access to super-speciality services is not even heard of in these far flung areas. However, with the advent of technology, one can now actually think of making medical services available in these inaccessible areas. At the core of Telemedicine is an amalgamated effort to bring together Communications Technology, Information Technology, Medical Engineering & Medical Science. It results in a customised software, integrated with computer hardware, that’s connected to diagnostic instruments like X-Ray machine, Cardiogram & BCG.
“Telemedicine gives the perfect platform for providing greater interaction facilities among physicians, and between physicians and specialists. This can minimise the isolation of rural doctors as well,” says M. R. Madhava Murthy, Executive Director & CEO, SN Informatics, which is engaged in the development of low-cost ICT solutions for bridging the urban-rural healthcare divide. ReMeDi-Soft, developed by Neurosynaptic Communications & Medintegra WEB from Apollo Telemedicine Networking Foundation are other similar initiatives, which allow real time video-audio conferencing facility, electronically keep patients’ medical records, medical data transfer facilities at extremely low bandwidth.
But the biggest challenge in this area is to make the medical community to accept and use the technology. Especially because the technology is still costly. Although the cost of communications, and those of video conferencing equipment are reducing day by day, the cost of real-time telemedicine services are still very much. At present, they are not affordable by majority of the poor and rural patients. And we know, a solution can’t become one, unless it is cost effective and universally available. For the corporates, the problem is that the development of rural telecommunications is still expensive, yet loss-making. So, not many, except for state-owned entities, wish to invest in rural areas.
Slowly, but surely, some answers are emerging to wrinkle out these issues. “We are planning to open more telemedicine centres and intend to tie-up with IT companies also. I think there will be many foreign IT firms, who will be willing to forge such collaboration,” says a confident Dr. Prathap C. Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals. So, telemedicine can indeed bridge the rural-urban health divide and connect a doctor in Mumbai through video conferencing to a patient in the remote district of Bolangir. “Telemedicine, in our opinion, is one innovative technology, which if used effectively, would help improve efficiency of doctors as they would be able to treat more patients,” affirms Sudhir Nair, Head, CRISIL Research.
Even telemedicine is only an interim solution. For poor patients will still need to access institutions for surgery. The real health revolution globally will only come, once blood-cell-size devices become cheap. For then, like polio & other shots, they will be implanted in bodies of every villager. And the devices will cure human beings from inside. Then, there will be no need to visit any doctor anywhere. And even telemedicine will be redundant.
According to the latest CRISIL report on healthcare,
70% population of India resides in rural areas but more than 75% doctors are based in cities. For the poor villagers, access to healthcare is still difficult, and access to super-speciality services is not even heard of in these far flung areas. However, with the advent of technology, one can now actually think of making medical services available in these inaccessible areas. At the core of Telemedicine is an amalgamated effort to bring together Communications Technology, Information Technology, Medical Engineering & Medical Science. It results in a customised software, integrated with computer hardware, that’s connected to diagnostic instruments like X-Ray machine, Cardiogram & BCG.“Telemedicine gives the perfect platform for providing greater interaction facilities among physicians, and between physicians and specialists. This can minimise the isolation of rural doctors as well,” says M. R. Madhava Murthy, Executive Director & CEO, SN Informatics, which is engaged in the development of low-cost ICT solutions for bridging the urban-rural healthcare divide. ReMeDi-Soft, developed by Neurosynaptic Communications & Medintegra WEB from Apollo Telemedicine Networking Foundation are other similar initiatives, which allow real time video-audio conferencing facility, electronically keep patients’ medical records, medical data transfer facilities at extremely low bandwidth.
But the biggest challenge in this area is to make the medical community to accept and use the technology. Especially because the technology is still costly. Although the cost of communications, and those of video conferencing equipment are reducing day by day, the cost of real-time telemedicine services are still very much. At present, they are not affordable by majority of the poor and rural patients. And we know, a solution can’t become one, unless it is cost effective and universally available. For the corporates, the problem is that the development of rural telecommunications is still expensive, yet loss-making. So, not many, except for state-owned entities, wish to invest in rural areas.
Slowly, but surely, some answers are emerging to wrinkle out these issues. “We are planning to open more telemedicine centres and intend to tie-up with IT companies also. I think there will be many foreign IT firms, who will be willing to forge such collaboration,” says a confident Dr. Prathap C. Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals. So, telemedicine can indeed bridge the rural-urban health divide and connect a doctor in Mumbai through video conferencing to a patient in the remote district of Bolangir. “Telemedicine, in our opinion, is one innovative technology, which if used effectively, would help improve efficiency of doctors as they would be able to treat more patients,” affirms Sudhir Nair, Head, CRISIL Research.
Even telemedicine is only an interim solution. For poor patients will still need to access institutions for surgery. The real health revolution globally will only come, once blood-cell-size devices become cheap. For then, like polio & other shots, they will be implanted in bodies of every villager. And the devices will cure human beings from inside. Then, there will be no need to visit any doctor anywhere. And even telemedicine will be redundant.
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