Telemedicine: An Era Yet to Flourish in India

Abstract

With the rapid expansion of internet facilities, there is already a growing tendency amongst the lay men and the patients to gather information about their symptoms, diagnosis, investigations, medicines, diseases and prognosis. Hence it is but natural that the health care professionals around the world have become very careful of the information they are providing online with each hospital trying to dissipate disease related information through i t s o f fi c i a l w e b s i t e s. A d v a n c e s i n telecommunications technology has paved the way for telemedicine. Telemedicine is described as a provision of remote clinical services, via real-time two-way communication between the patient and the healthcare provider, using electronic audio and visual means. It is a subset of telehealth that refers to wholesome concept of more general health services; a collection of means or methods for enhancing health care, public health, and health education delivery and support using telecommunications technology. Today, phone calls, video calls, live video telemedicine, smart phones, computers and smart televisions with a network of internet access are available even in remote areas of the country. Telemedicine has already taken a place in people's lives. A simple phone call from a patient to seek a doctor's advice about a non emergency ailment is a form of telemedicine. Telemedicine usually employs a desktop computer, with a special video card. The computer stores data securely. High-speed telephone lines or satellite connections allow interaction between two sites or locations. On occasions, the patient is at the originating site, and receives the service via telecommunications service, with the mediation of a telepresenter. Types of Telemedicine-based on Connections 1. Networked Programs These use networked connections with high speed internet to link remote health clinics to larger health facilities like tertiary level hospitals. 2. Point-to-point Connections These link small, understaffed remote health centers to specialists at one, large, central health facility via high speed internet. These are p o p u l a r i n t h e d e v e l o p e d c o u n r e s ; telepsychiatry, teleradiology and emergency services. 3. Monitoring Center Links These are used for remote patient monitoring. This link creates a digital connection between a patient's house and a remote monitoring facility, so that a patient's medical data can be measured at home and transmitted electronically to a distant medical monitoring facility. These links may be in the form of internet, short message service (SMS), or telephone connections. They are most commonly used for monitoring of pulmonary, c a r d i a c , o r f e t a l m e d i c a l d a t a. Electrocardiogram data is easily transferred using these links.