Telemedicine harnesses telecommunication technology to deliver healthcare and education to patients and health practitioners in remote areas. It enables easier access to healthcare for rural populations, helping provide critical health information, save time and money, and reduce the need for travel.

The Apollo Hospitals Group – the largest healthcare provider in Asia with 10,000 beds, 43 hospitals and 4500 consultants in 50 specialties – set up in 2000 the oldest and largest multi-specialty telemedicine network in South Asia, the ATNF.

Professor K. Ganapathy, president of the Apollo Telemedicine Networking Foundation, says: “Providing healthcare for anyone, anywhere, anytime, is key for us. Telemedicine has the potential to provide affordable and accessible quality healthcare to millions of people in remote areas, and in turn, bridges the divide between rural and urban populations.

“ATNF has developed different models and solutions of telemedicine to be able to respond to the different types of needs in India. It ranges from a simple conversation between two health professionals over the phone to real time video consultation where heart sounds and images are transmitted to medical professionals from remote areas using IP and ISDN lines.”

Telemedicine also includes direct clinical, preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic services and treatment; consultative and follow-up services; remote monitoring of patients; rehabilitative services; and patient education to those in rural and medically underserved communities.

By the end of August 2008, there were in India 300 million telephones, mobile and fixed, with a monthly addition of around 9 million mobile phone subscribers. This unprecedented growth in information and communication technology represents an important prospect to further improve penetration and address the digital divide in the rural areas.

In 2008, Ericsson and Apollo hospitals signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together to educate the public and to publicize, promote and implement telemedicine as an application over broadband-enabled mobile networks. This initiative builds on Ericsson and Apollo’s previous 2007 collaboration with the Gramjyoti project, which showcased the benefits of mobile broadband applications across 18 villages and 15 towns in rural areas.

The technology used in that project – the first 3G wireless network in India – puts Ericsson and its partners in a prime position to utilize the lessons from the trial for the rollout of the 3G technology once the Indian authorities release 3G licenses. It was recently announced that these licenses will be available in 2009.

Telemedicine in India is set to meet the challenges of health care delivery in an organized and cost efficient manner, providing better exchange of information, medical expertise and health care access.

“Telemedicine is not a medical specialty but a health care delivery system that is revolutionizing medicine and the delivery of health care as it is known today,” Ganapathy says. “Telemedicine, utilizing today’s significant advances in technology and telecommunication techniques, provides a new method of effectively delivering health care. We see in the future that telemedicine will be integrated into the normal health delivery care and that health enabled mobile phones will become part of a doctor’s daily tools.”

Currently ATNF has 93 centers in India and 10 in other countries.

Carmen López-Clavero