'Tele medicine initiative saves precious life in tribal areas'

Tough topography and geographical barriers would no longer hinder medical aid to patients in remote areas as 'tele medicine' project launched by the state government in tribal district of Lahaul and Spiti has proved a boon for them, Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur said today.
The life of a 31-year-old patient broughtto district hospital in a critical condition at Keylong was saved as timely medical advice from a specialist of Apollo Hospital Chennai through Tele Health Services, Keylong, proved life saver, Thakur said.
'Tele medicine' initiative in the state has proved to be a boon to the needy patients during emergencies especially in the remote and rural areas and the fusion of information and communication technology with medical science has proved effective in meeting the challenges of the health care delivery in far flung areas, he said, adding 2500 patients in tribal area benefitted from it during last one year.

The minister said that the tele medicine project was aimed at providing medical advice and consultancy over a simple telephone, interactive medical video conference using broadband telecommunication media for providing support to patients at an affordable cost in inaccessible areas from the Specialty Hospitals where it was not possible for them to reach in time.
He said that the project was started in IGMC, Shimla in 2005 with a view to ensuring connectivity/linkage of health institutions located in interior and rural areas to IGMC Shimla.
He said that the project was running successfully by the RogiKalyan Samiti of IGMC Hospital in respect of video teleconferencing and for getting expert opinion.

Additional Chief Secretary Health Vineet Chaudhary said that tele health services would prove beneficial to patients in rural and remote areas as instant specialized medical advice and treatment would be available to them in emergencies.
It would also help in updating medical professionals posted in such areas thereby bringing qualitative improvement in the services being provided to the people, he added.