Ahmedabad health dept plans to partner private hospitals for telemedicine project

The state health department is planning to partner with private hospitals to provide healthcare to remote areas. While the details of the project cost etc is yet to be worked out, the health department has already set the ball rolling and a meeting with representatives of the health industry is planned next week.

The idea is to have experienced city-based senior doctors to guide junior doctors in the rural and other remote areas through the internet. Gujarat health minister Nitin Patel said, "The idea is to connect the public health centers (PHCs) and community health centers (CHC) in the remote areas through audio-visual linkages with the city-based doctors. Specialists can check patient information and provide guidance to junior doctors in these areas."

He added that the state government had been toying with the idea of telemedicine for some time now, but issues related to internet connectivity, developing a pool of specialist doctors etc, kept it at bay.

The state health secretary, Anil Mukim too confirmed the development, and said that finer details would be worked out within next week.

Infrastructure required to run the telemedicine project at the remote health centers would have to be developed, and initially, these PHCs would be connected with the nearby district hospitals. Once the patient details are uploaded, the specialists can go through it and the local doctors can seek advice through live video-conferencing.