thebuzz
Healthy Outlook for Telemed
network in 2001 and recently expanded
it to cover the entire state of Karnataka.
It now reaches 300,000 people at 255
rural hospitals and 40 “super-specialty”
hospitals in metropolitan areas.
Plans call for pushing out the
telemedicine program into more rural
areas in different states throughout the
country. Under the program, ISRO
provides the software, hardware and
communication equipment as well as
satellite bandwidth, while the hospitals
provide the infrastructure, manpower
and system maintenance.
THE DOCTOR IS IN—at least virtually.
Looking to improve healthcare in underdeveloped
regions where medical expertise can be sparse,
several new projects are tapping into telecom networks to connect patients in remote areas with
big city hospitals and clinics.
The government of Uganda, for example,
launched a project aimed at equipping health
centers across the country with “techno labs”
connected to larger urban hospitals. Stocked with
computers, digital cameras, scanners and other
technology, the labs will enable doctors to review
patient needs remotely and prescribe appropriate
treatment.
Ham Mulira, Ph.D., Uganda’s minister of
information and communication technology, says
telemedicine facilities will give patients access to
doctors who can treat illnesses that cannot be
addressed locally.
“Referrals that originally required ambulances,
especially in remote areas, will now be done
through the computer,” Bob Lyazi, director of the
ministry’s Rural Communications Development
Fund told allafrica.com.
The Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO) launched a satellite-based telemedicine
MEDICINE TO GO
In January, the Australian Health-e-Screen
4 Kids mobile e-health van began operating
as part of a three-year University of
Queensland project funded by the
Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation.
Information collected by local health
workers is stored in a secure online data-
base that can be accessed by specialists at the Royal
Children’s Hospital in Brisbane. The specialists
review cases, diagnose illnesses and recommend
treatment plans for indigenous children living
hundreds of kilometers away from the hospital.
>>With telemedicine
projects you often
have the failure
of success. Well-
meaning doctors
support the
initiatives—but
then become
overwhelmed by
increasing demands
on their time.
—Jonathan Linkhous, American Telemedicine Association,
Washington, D.C., USA
