India's telemedicine takes advancements in healthcare to distant corners

 28-Nov-16, ET Healthworld

Cardiac paediatrician and co-founder of Teleradiology Solutions, the first-of-its-kind company established in the country, Dr Sunita Maheswari said that the organisation was working with the Karnataka health department to take teleradiology services to the rural interiors of the state.

Image: Intel Free Press via Wikimedia Commons

Sunita added, "India has only 10,000 radiologists. Through teleradiology, we can take their services to other areas, where there are hospitals and diagnostic centres, but no radiologists.

Karnataka Assisted Diagnosis of Retinopathy of Prematurity (KIDROP) was launched in 2008 by Narayana Nethralaya as a postgraduate teleopthalmology programme. Since 2010, along with the state health department, Narayana Nethralaya has managed to take retinopathy of prematurity screening to 36 centres across the state, along with wide field digital imaging services.

For the past two years, Narayana Health, in collaboration with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, has been looking to take telecardiology, teleconsultation and tele-ECG services to rural areas. So far, its e-health centres have managed to reach 39,624 patients in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Gujarat and Rajasthan. The e-healthcare centres are designed such that they can be fit and deployed within a standard shipping container. Or, they are retrofitted to a pre-existing clinic.

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