Apollo readies higher dose of telemedicine

From next month, video conferencing possible on web with doctors' panel from your home or anywhere else

In a first of its kind initiative in the healthcare sector, Chennai-based Apollo Hospitals Group is soon going to launch the next version of telemedicine, a web-based platform with a 'Skype-like' video conferencing tool embedded'.

Set for launch next month, the platform will enable a user (a patient) to consult with the hospital's panel of doctors anytime and anywhere in the world over video conferencing. A user needs to log on to the portal, upload the clinical test reports and chose the doctor of his/her choice to seek advice.

"We are one of the pioneers on the telemedicine technology, when we launched this way back in 2000. Now, we are taking to its next phase, when we don't need to set up physical telemedicine stations. It is a cloud-based system which will provide virtual doctors anytime, who would consult the patients over video conferencing system embedded in it," said Sangita Reddy, executive director of the Group.

A 'virtual' team of doctors and nurses would be based at the medical call centre attached to any of its chain of hospitals. They will be backed by executives of a decision support group (DSS). The moment a patient logs on, DSS executives will engage with them to understand the concern areas and brief the doctors so that they will be able to ask the right question to the patients. The DSS team will also advise the patients if they are required to consult a specialist or to visit the hospitals in person. And, since it is a web-based application, the specialist doctors can log on from anywhere, using the password given to them.

"Basically 80 per cent of the health problems can be handled very simply - fever, cough, ear is paining - should I go to office or visit a doctor? You log on in a minute, consult a doctor and he will tell you these parameters," added Reddy.

In the next phase, Apollo is planning to back telemedicine 2.0 with health monitoring devices which can be attached to a patient's body and transmit reports such as ECG, blood pressure or blood sugar on real time when the patient is an elderly person and requires constant medical attention at home. The device attached to the body can constantly monitor the important parameters and connect to the portal directly, enabling the doctors to monitor it round the clock and give feedback if the patient is required to be taken to the emergency section or there is a need to change the medication.

"Imagine the value of it in rural India. If you put these devices in the hands of the Asha (Accredited Social Health Activists) or rural health workers, and if you provide them second opinion from the best medical centres anywhere in the city, advance healthcare can reach them at time and costs which hitherto you can't think or dream of," said Reddy.

Apollo is also planning to launch electronic intensive care units (eICU) across India. These will be small nursing homes, where the ICUs will be linked with the hospitals' central monitoring station. Doctors sitting in a city hospital or some other nursing home can remotely monitor the eICU patients.