title: Telemedicine odyssey customised telemedicine solution for rural and remote areas in India.
abstract: There is a significant potential for delivering medical services in rural areas of India using Telemedicine methods. However, there is a continuous emphasis on patient privacy, which is usually not a concern in traditional consultation. We at Centre for Development of Advance Computing, Mohali Punjab have developed a customized Telemedicine solution, which overcomes the barrier--technological as well as professional, legal and financial--to Telemedicine. We implement Telemedicine in rural areas as 70% of total population in India is living in villages. We have, as a pilot project, established Telemedicine Technology at six major locations in India. These locations were subsequently connected to nearby districts and primary health centres to make a Telemedicine hub. Currently, our major project is to deploy Telemedicine sites at various locations in the hilly and remote state of Himachal Pradesh. During these developments, we have faced unavoidable hurdles and tried to overcome them with team effort, perseverance and never give up attitude. This paper will shed light on our journey from scratch to what we have achieved till date.
authors.affiliation: Center for Development of Advanced Computing (A Scientific Society under Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Govt. of India), A-34, Industrial Area, Phase VIII, Mohali, Punjab-160071. jsb@cedtm.stpm.soft.net
authors.forename: Jagjit Singh
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Bhatia
authors.forename: Sagri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sharma
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D016730:Program Development; D019114:Remote Consultation; D019035:Rural Health Services; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000458:organization & administration*