IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

But wait — fortunately for Mupanna, there’s a telemedicine pilot project happening in Mupanna’s village with all the facilities available — ultrasound, XRay, ECG, the works. Mupanna can’t believe his eyes: a doctor in Bangalore checks him up over a video-conferencing solution, and tells him he has a severe viral fever, that’s all. The attendants at Mupanna’s end hands out the medicines he’s prescribed. Now Mupanna’s sold on the idea of future broadband technologies and their applications.

Hays noted that American Indians and Alaska Natives have high rates of heart disease, diabetes and certain mental health conditions but limited access to specialists. Telehealth tools -- such as videoconferencing technology and electronic health information exchanges -- can help close the distance gap between patients and specialists, according to Hays.

Picture “The Jetsons” character Mr. Spacely screaming at his subordinate, George Jetson (below), except that Mr. Spacely is actually a doctor and he’s nice and wearing a doctor’s white garb and tenderly treating George Jetson, his patient.

A premature baby, weighing less than 2,000 grams at birth, Tabassum is being screened by specialists using a software developed by a Bangalore based start-up i2i Telesolutions. The software links ophthalmologists at urban centres with patients in remote areas.

Das Schweizer Gesundheitssystem ist nicht eben für seine Effizienz bekannt. Rund 50 Milliarden Franken werden hierzulande pro Jahr für die Gesundheit ausgegeben und die Kosten steigen fortlaufend an. Mit immer neuen Massnahmen wird versucht, die Kosten in den Griff zu bekommen, wobei beispielsweise tranzparenzschaffende elektronische Krankenakten seit Jahren im Gespräch sind, ohne dass es wirklich vorangeht.

Iran's Social Security Organization will also present new technologies in areas of medical informatics. They will show smart credit cards for medical costs as well as Management Information Systems, electronic patient records, Telemedicine, picture archiving and communication systems, and systems connecting medical, laboratory and imaging equipments to Hospital Information Systems.

According to the companies, the first kiosks will be installed in community hospitals in Shandong province, with hopes of reaching more than 100,000 patients. The self-service kiosks will allow users to manage their own health, interact with their physician or health coach, and even allow family members to participate in their care on their own terms.

With healthcare moving towards embracing IT in a better way, areas such as medical imaging and electronic health record systems are set to boost bandwidth as well as data storage capacity requirements for the healthcare industry in India as well as globally.

Healthcare industry includes establishments involved in healthcare, medical and surgical services, associations engaged in providing medical services, and the healthcare insurance sector. Healthcare delivery is witnessing unprecedented changes, with the influx of information technology (IT) and telemedicine, particularly in developing countries. Enhancement of IT standards is one of the key factors driving increased adoption of IT in the healthcare sector. Increased focus on lowering overhead costs, better protocols, and process optimization are expected to address major challenges such as integration and interoperability in healthcare IT industry.

Making his contribution in the 2008/09 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives today (June 3), Minister of Health and Environment, Rudyard Spencer, said that "e-health provides an appropriate response to the optimal use of our scarce resources."

E-health is a healthcare practice, which is supported by electronic processes and communication, and includes clinical e-health and tele-health.

This week I am focusing on another area that many Jamaicans may not have considered: Telemedicine and Telehealth. Telemedicine is most often defined as "the use of medical information exchanged from one site to another via electronic communications to improve, maintain or assist patients' health status" and "Telehealth" is a term that usually encompasses more than clinical services, covering continuing education, remote monitoring of vital signs and more.

By connecting Prince Hamzah Hospital with Mafraq Public Hospital and Queen Rania Hospital in Petra District via telemedicine technology, “823 clinical consultations and procedures were conducted for patients in these two hospitals since June 2011,” Wreikat told reporters at a press conference on the sidelines of the MENA ICT Forum at the Dead Sea.

Such information is necessary to create awareness and sensitise Kenyans on preventable or treatable diseases.

Kenyans will soon be able to get information on diabetes, heart diseases, cancer and epilepsy on their mobiles phones through a partnership by Safaricom, the Ministry of Health, and five associations that create awareness and support patients and families with the diseases.

In January, doctors threatened to go on strike in March unless the government changes its plan to introduce telemedicine and other programs. Neighborhood doctors fear telemedicine would lead to a reduction in their income as they suspect patients would favor larger hospitals.

In a special forum with foreign investors, Kim Jae-hong, the vice minister of trade, industry and energy, said the government will use the country's FEZs as a testbed for telemedicine and a new type of health care service that also combines medicine with tourism.

Kim Yeong-suk, 60, shuffled into the health care center near her home complaining of a prickling feeling throughout her body. Having suffered from high blood pressure for a decade, Kim worried that her symptoms meant things were getting worse.

One of the head nurses at the center in Hongcheon County, Gangwon, drew a blood sample and examined her blood pressure, temperature, cholesterol and blood sugar. A few minutes after the nurse entered the data, the doctor arrived - on a large screen in the center of the room.

The institution in question is Hospital Sant Joan de Deu, a large paediatric hospital in Spain linked to a network of medical charity centres in the developing world. Its new name was created in a stream of consciousness: H for hospital, with Web 2.0, led to H2.0, then H2O - hence liquid hospital.

Jorge Juan Fernandez, e-health director, said the key to the "liquid hospital" concept was to integrate a wide range of technology channels into patient care including smartphones, the web, telemedicine, social networks, traditional phones, tablet computers, email and medical devices.

Technology now allows physicians to consult with patients or colleagues, view diagnostic images, even perform remote surgery using robots, but if a doctor licensed in New York—while attending a conference in Nevada—refills the prescription of a patient vacationing in Florida after a discussion on the telephone, they may be skating on some thin legal ice and could be putting their medical license at risk.

“When I returned from my studies, I wanted to start telemedicine service to show people how quality care can be efficiently delivered by simple means,” says Dr Shabbir, who was educated in Norway. “I want to make a model of future primary care centres in rural India.”

But suppose there's no Internet access to relay the images and signals. What if electricity is unreliable or unavailable?

In impoverished rural areas across the globe, that's the reality faced by health workers. For them, hope for telemedicine is more readily found in the spread of cell phone networks and simple text messaging.