Telehealth in India: The Apollo contribution and an overview

This article traces the author's personal experience in introducing and developing telehealth in India over the last 14 years. 1–8 Simple video conferencing, has given way to eHome Visits, 10–12 providing international teleconsults, 13 ,14 tele CME programmes, 15–17 deployment of internet enabled peripheral medical devices, promoting Health Literacy through eEmpowerment,18,19 multi centre Grand rounds and, virtual visits to the ICU.20–22 With 894 million mobile phones mHealth is certainly the future.23 The Pan African, SAARC, ASEAN and the Central Asia e Network projects 13 ,14,24–29 initiated by the Govt. of India has resulted in India's health expertise, being made available to many countries virtually. With exponential growth in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), a rural tele-density of 43%,23 India may eventually show the way to achieve quality, affordable, accessible health care to everyone, anytime, anywhere making distance meaningless and Geography History, by deploying telemedicine.
Source: Apollo Medicine - Category: Journals (General) Source Type: research