Telemedicine involves the use of telecommunication technology to deliver medical information. This information has clearly proven useful to patients and doctors alike.

Way back in 1960’s, a surgeon in a remote hospital in UK, saw that a particular newscaster in the TV channel, had developed unusual hiccups while broadcasting the news. He noticed it for three months. Sensing something wrong with him, the doctor contacted the TV channel to ask the concerned newscaster to consult his GP. To his utter surprise, it was found that the newscaster was suffering from early cancer of intestine.

Looking back, we can think of this as a crude form of telemedicine.

Historically, understanding the patient’s illness was arrived through various investigations and personal interviews. However, with the advent of modern technology and more sophisticated medical equipments like ECG, X-rays, USG, etc. such personal involvement with the patient has waned in the favour of more objective means of diagnosis.

Statistically, 80% of the Indian population has no access to a proper health care system, 80% of the doctor’s practice in urban areas serving only 20% of the population. Telemedicine gives the specialists a chance to serve the remaining 80% masses residing in the rural areas without having to move from their place of work.

How Telemedicine works:

A patient, visiting a rural health center, consults the doctor there. If the doctor feels the need for a specialist opinion, he uses the services of a telemedicine setup. The doctor transmits the necessary information of the patient to the consultant who in turn gives his opinion and treatment plan for the necessary action to be taken.

If required, the patient and doctor can also have video conferencing with the specialist to get first hand knowledge of the patient’s problem.

This saves the patient’s and relatives expenses for commuting long distances to the urban clinic and lodging & boarding there. This also saves the specialist’s time of traveling, which he can utilize for other needy patients.
 

GP’s dilemma:

A known patient with no cardiac risk suddenly gets a pain in the chest. Either the GP takes an ECG and sends it to the specialist through the net or he gets the patient admitted to the ICCU. In ICCU, the patient is advised Angiography and/or Angioplasty. The GP knows that 70% of the pains in the chest are of non-cardiac origin. If he wants a second opinion either in the same city or abroad, then he can avail of facilities from a telemedicine center, and act accordingly.

Telemedicine Applications:

Telemedicine can also be used to find a cheaper, cost effective alternative for major surgeries elsewhere in the country.

For example, costs for coronary bypass surgery varies from state to state. Telemedicine center can help the patient transfer his or her medical data, fix up an appointment with the specialist and in certain cases fix up the date of surgery, thus saving valuable time and money.

Telemedicine can also be used for latest treatments in surgery in any part of the world. For diseases like Leukemia, Bone Marrow Transplant, Cirrhosis of Liver and Liver transplant, a telemedicine center can search the best suitable alternative for getting treatment done in India or abroad.

Telemedicine can also be called as a natural partner for distance education. It can be used to teach surgical procedures to medical students in a classroom through live, real-time, interactive video conferencing with a surgeon who is performing the operation. It can also be used to provide continuing education to physicians and specialists. Even patients can benefit from this to know more about their medical conditions and treatment plans.

Modalities of Telemedicine:

Telemedicine in its full sense includes teleradiology, telecardiology, teledermatolgy, telepathology, teledentistry, telepsychiatry, and all other fields related to medicine.

Teleradiology is the most widely deployed application of telemedicine. It is in use since 1950 and hence called the “granddaddy” for tele-imaging applications.

For the last 10 years, Telecardiology is the means for transmitting ECG’s – the gold standard test for diagnosis.

Technology in Indian setup:

With the revolution of Internet spreading across the world, the world has become a much smaller habitat. This has made people and institutions come closer to each other and interact in a much fast, effective and congenial way.

The IT revolution has taken each and every nook and cranny of India by storm. This has cast its effects on every industry including medicine. This revolution has made the physical distance between doctors and doctors, and doctors and patients just a click away.

A typical Telemedicine center includes a high speed data transfer facility, various hardware and software for conversion of physical reports to digital format to be transmitted across and a video conferencing facility.

Although data transfer is no limitation in the current setup in our country, the hardware and software required still has to be imported.

In spite of India being considered as one of the major players in the IT industry, the lack of awareness about telemedicine amongst masses including the medical fraternity is one of the main reasons for the large gap between advancements in this field abroad and in India.
 

Conclusion:

We have narrated a gross overview of Telemedicine and its applications in Indian context. India being a vast country with high illiteracy levels and poor financial support, we cannot create hospitals and specialists in every nook and corner of the country. But availability of extensive communication networks in recent times has made the use of telemedicine more practical and efficient way of providing health care services in the remotest part of the country. Thus telemedicine is just not a tool of communication and information but much more in providing health care and distance education.