IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

At a meeting with senior health officials, the Mayor discussed the modalities to implement the initiative in hospitals and health centres so as to benefit the deprived sections of society who cannot afford treatment at private multi-speciality hospitals.

The facility, which uses communication to provide clinical health care from a distance, is expected to enable the department to depend less on escort personnel to take ailing inmates to hospitals.

During his presidential address at the passing out parade of the 41st batch of 116 female warders held at Mysore Central Prison on Friday, Additional Director General of Police (Prisons)) K V Gagandeep said the department is facing severe shortage of escort personnel. “If telemedicine facility is provided, inmates can directly interact with doctors from the jail,” he said.

Nepal's caretaker Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Friday inaugurated the telemedicine centre at Patan Hospital in Lalitpur, set up with an Indian assistance of nearly 4.8 crore Nepalese rupees, under the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) project.

India is fully funding the project to set up telemedicine network in the entire SAARC region as part of the assurance given by Manmohan Singh, a statement by the Indian embassy in Kathmandu said.

The project spearhead by C-DAC uses integrated webbased telemedicine solution e-Dhanwanthari and the success of the pilot project launched in Kannur Central Prison has boosted the statewide roll out. “The telemedicine system includes the software, communication network and medical equipment such as digital ECG and tele-radiology.

The telemedicine facility, launched in the Kannur Central Prison a couple of months ago, would be launched in the central prisons of Poojappura and Viyyur, within a month.

The success of the telemedicine facility in the Kannur Prison had prompted the Prisons Department to launch the project in other prisons also as it helps in saving time and money of the officials of the Department to a great extent.

Patients are being consulted every week by the experts at the Medical College in the presence of the prison doctor.

Though the facility is being provided only for the patients with psychiatric disorders at present, the doctors say, the system can certainly be extended further.

This is due to the efforts of a 58-year-old private practitioner, K Jithendranath, who has developed a telemedicine system for a population with limited access to the outside world.

A resident of Sulthan Bathery, 20 km from the Kurichiad tribal settlement, Jithendranath attends to their health issues on the phone and prescribes medicines for free.

Identifies locations to serve as nodes with ISRO help

The Jawaharlal Institute of Medical Education and Research (Jipmer) has identified possible locations to serve as nodes for rendering telemedicine consultation with ISRO support to Sabarimala pilgrims during the Mandala Pooja festival beginning mid-November.

A Jipmer team, led by its director S.C. Parija, which surveyed the terrain between Pamba and the Sannidhanam, would submit a report to the Union Health Ministry on the possible locations where telemedicine infrastructure could be provided in Sabarimala.

The facility was launched in December 2005 to improve the health care service in remote areas and to lessen the health care expenses in the state with the help of information technology. The initiative received good response in the beginning. But with response slowly declining five of the nodal units in Malappuram were closed down.

The system, which would be set up with an estimated cost of Rs 10.2 lakh, would help provide timely medical care to the prisoners in the jail itself. According to the National criminal justice referral system (NCJRS) study conducted at US, jails are the suitable places for telemedicine, say the jail officials.

A proposal to offer telemedicine services, or the use of telecommunication and information technology to provide clinical healthcare at a distance, at Poojappura Central jail in the city is under consideration.

The proposal to offer the services at the jail has been has been forwarded by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC).

The patients will receive medical treatment of Covid-19 through telemedicine.

The Bhopal Smart City will now provide telephonic medical advice to the residents to reduce public movement amid lockdown.

The patients will receive medical treatment of Covid-19 through telemedicine. If detected with symptoms, the team will prescribe physical examination to the patient.

Initially, simple two-way consultation would be offered through a call-centre, which would operate from the medical college at AIIMS Bhopal. After it is fully functional, telemedicine service would be extended to even district hospitals in the state.

"Telemedicine service would offer consultation for critical diseases, treatment and follow-ups. Once better e-connectivity is in place, the potential of health information technology and telemedicine is immense," said AIIMS Bhopal IT head Puneet Sharma. The service would operate through a toll-free number, which would be made public after trial runs, he added.

Associate professor and telemedicine in- charge, AIIMS, Bhopal, Dr Surya Bali said preparations to start the telemedicine facility have almost been completed and by the end of this month it would probably start working.

In the beginning, the district hospital of Sehore and the community health centre ( CHC), Ichhawar, would be connected to the telemedicine centre, he added.

A telemedicine system has been installed at the Nashik Road Central Prison through which medical experts at the Nashik civil hospital can be contacted for advice on the health condition of the inmates.

The telemedicine system at the civil hospital, a combination of telecommunication and information technologies to provide clinical healthcare at a distance, has been linked with the prison for the purpose.

This will prevent prisoners' attempts to escape during transportation to the hospital, the authorities said.

The technology, which is based on cloud computing, can be used by doctors and hospitals on devices including tablets, smart phones and laptops with internet connectivity. Telemedicine is the use of telecommunication and information technologies to provide clinical health care at a distance.

For the last two years, experts at Sassoon’s telemedicine centre has been offering advice during medical emergencies in peripheral areas. Not only are details like history of patients and reports of investigations regarding ailments sent by mail to the telemedicine centre at Sassoon but video-conference technique is routinely used to manage the complication, says Dr D J Kulkarni, medical superintendent at the hospital.

The proposal is a brain child of Dr. Sendimeren, Medical Officer (MO) CCD, NHAK who had planned every detailed structure of the existing CCD at the hospital since it was established in 2007. Dr. Sendi, as he is popularly known in the hospital, views that cases of patients referred by doctors at district hospitals to the CCD are mostly severe in nature and therefore many lives are lost even before proper treatment is administered to these patients.

The cardiac care major started telemedicine using ISRO satellite in 2002-2003 and since then has treated over 53,000 patients in the remote locations.

It has also initiated a scheme of networking of Govt. Medical Colleges across the country to provide platform for tele-education, training, distance learning, continuing professional development and sharing of information on healthcare, education and research.