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The environments like highly competitive and deregulated telecommunication, and a range of models and solutions to make telehealth work in different health care situations in most rural, primitive and remote sites are covered in equity of care by Telemedicine
It has been with effectiveness, efficiency, and a sense of improving equity of access to health care services for all that we have been able to adopt an international culture of implementing telemedicine in India and South Asia for past many years and specially in one and a half years last. In addition, process for addressing issues as they emerge with changing technologies and practice patterns are not only recommended but also designed successfully.
Virtually capabilities of information technologies: software as much as hardware; competitive advantage as much as consumer expectation; security as much as storage and manipulation of data keep the trend alive of information technologies.
Thus calculated Telemedicine ultimately includes the one-time expenditure for equipment, recurring expenditures for network services, maintenance, and personnel, and intangibles such as inconvenience to healthcare providers who may need to leave their offices (at least initially) to use the service. In C. Everett Koop's words, telemedicine is to "improve the quality of health care with equity of access and cost reduction.
ONLINE TELEMEDICINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE demonstrated a break-even analysis in 3.9 years, when different factors like the lower cost of treating in rural communities, travel time for physicians, and diluted opportunity" costs were considered.
RE-ENGINEERING THROUGH DISASTER TELEMEDICINE SOLUTION
Telemedicine was used as a vital tool for re-engineering healthcare effectively during the recent Gujarat earthquake. A massive earthquake measuring 8.1 on Richter scale had covered as much as 660 Kms vast areas of destruction caused villages after villages, cities after cities, and buildings after buildings to be wiped out killing thousands of people. Hospitals ruined and even the Military Hospital Bhuj was just partly functional due to mass damage. with the objectives to provide Tele-Healthcare to the total Kutch area,
Tele-consultation healthcare facilities with video conferencing, Information about medical needs, Computation of database on health problems, Tele-monitoring of all patients' care.
EXPEDITION AND TELEMEDICINE
At the height of more than 25000 ft above sea level, through inaccessible approaches and virtually no infrastructure right in the Himalayan Mountains the following was implemented.
Kailash Mansarovar and Pithoragargh geographically difficult snowy mountainous regions showed the patients examined live and subsequently over video showed no changes in their diagnosis between methods. This strategic plan was for expanding telemedicine network in most alarming situations of avalanche, frost and snow.
TELEMEDICNE FOR MASS GATHERING - MAHA KUMBH MELA
Maha Kumbh Fair in January-February 2001 the biggest religious fair on earth involving more than 1 crore people demonstrated savings of $ 150 per patient when the patient was treated locally instead of referred to specialty care centers. This is the first of its kind of Telemedicine projects in the world. The telemedicine is used for the sake of more than 5 crores pilgrims.
TELEMEDICINE AT ALERT WITH DEFENSE SERVICES
Army needs specified health care for the reason of its scattered field positions in severe and extreme geographical conditions. Increasingly, whether Army is engaged in special operations units or not, the units are relatively small and modular. It is only natural that civil medicine will be submitted to similar changes under the influence of the modern capabilities generated by various advanced technologies such as remote sensing and imaging, telepresence surgery, virtual endoscopy and virtual reality (VR) surgical simulators.
ACCESSING INACCESSIBLE
In most deficient circumstances almost amidst the deep woods of Assam and Tripura, which are labeled as the most backward civil / tribal communities of North East India for the lack of public health care patients needing specialist consultation and service have to travel long distances to big cities. Today the presence of telemedicine has brought them at par with the any superspecialist protected patient in the world.
TELE MEDI EDUCATION
The system was not used to give lectures, since in those cases communication is entirely one sided and the interactive capabilities are wasted. In the present case the system was used for distributed working sessions, questions and answers, open discussions and references.
EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SURVEILLANCE
1. Epidemiological surveillance through telemedicine
2. Preventive measures and diagnosis in the field of
epidemiology
3. Role of a teritary cardiac care center in clinical
Decision making using trans-telephonic ecg monitoring
(ttem)
AN ADVANCED MATTER OF HEART
The most revolutionary and efficient telemedicine design for tele cardiology has been going on with the Dicom Pacs based 3.0 HL7 database standard tele cardiology is rendering services to more than 90 patients a day. OTRI enabled the angio transfer rate to be converted to 1.5 to 3 minutes from 1.5 hours.
Tele ophthalmology
Specially conceptualized tele opthalmology by OTRI has brought a new world in the field of digital opthalmological treatments. Connecting Bangalore with Chennai and Madurai at Narayan Sankara ophthalmology Institute OTRI has been creating a new world of revolutionary opthalmological solutions. A perpetual nature of project is going on.
AS USUAL ALL RURAL and REMOTE
With telemedicine systems and solutions developed by OTRI the reach has been provided where the basic doctor cannot or does not visit all the villages falling under the jurisdiction of particular P.H.C. regularly in a scheduled manner and practice the health care measures. The proposition once mooted by the Union Government, as "Bare foot Doctors" as practiced in China had never been implemented so OTRI took the lead and offered Tele health to the villages as they can be connected to the specialist doctors / hospitals.
Introducing the Concept of Tele-Consultation Centers
The concept of telemedicine centers to be connected with super specialist centers all over India and abroad is gripping the general healthcare industry. All sorts of medical data are to be transferred. Local doctors can access Telemedicine without personal investment. Patients save time, botheration of appointment and discomfort of journey Super specialists from all over the world can be approached at virtually no expenses.
COST EFFICIENT and USER FRIENDLY
With improved revenue, potential for reducing manpower costs by allowing support team to perform routine diagnosis and treatment aloof from specialists to perform more complex tasks the nature of the healthcare organization has also been demonstrated. The use of videoconferencing during assessment of a post-operative wound is an example of equity of care. Telemedicine can reduce costs by decreasing the duplication of services, technologies, and specialists. In addition, rural areas deprived of medical assistance have been able to reduce the costs of emergency transfer. The software is maintained and upgraded by central hub and can be handles by a mere technician.
Most of it the total concept of telemedicine is that it is no where competitive but complementary which has brought a high esteem to the technology.
INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
The International perspective can be drawn with special respect to the Indian scenario and thus can be transferred to the international vistas. The laces and events like
Maha Kumbh Fair leads to the special attention to the segregated population due to certain circumstances. The events like WTC attack invite special attention for the rigorous implementation of telemedicine. The whole exercise not only cuts drastically the overall expenditure but also brings closer the concept of quality health care even in the most difficult circumstances. Even the executing agencies were relieved of physical running around and could concentrate upon other vital arrangements.
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