Escorts unveils heart care services in remote areas
Monday, 12 April 2004, 19:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: A major initiative to reach quality heart care advice to remote parts of India by using the power of IT was launched here Thursday. As part of the project, Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre (EHIRC) will offer expert opinion on patients and provide specialised training to distant doctors in all its centres across 16 Indian states through video-conferencing. R.R. Kasliwal, head of cardiology at EHIRC, demonstrated the technology that will allow exchange of medical advice with doctors in distant areas. Four doctors presented complicated cases of heart infarctions to Kasliwal, who had a look at the patients and saw their angiogram reports on the screen. He then discussed the case with his colleagues sitting with him, and prescribed tests and medicines to his associates through the screen. Kasliwal was able to guide doctors from Nathdwara (Rajasthan), Amritsar (Punjab), Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh) and Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh). EHIRC has entered into a pact with world leader in video-conferencing and web-conferencing technology Polycom to launch the initiative. "Seventy percent of India's population lives in rural areas, whereas 80 percent of the doctors are in the urban sector," Kasliwal told media persons. "Tele-cardiology is especially useful in India which has a high count of heart diseases, as it helps doctors and patients at remote places in India to connect to EHIRC for opinion and treatment," he added. Naresh Trehan, member of EHIRC's board of governors said: "Tele-cardiology also helps our patients who are constantly travelling. "A patient in a distant country can view his doctor on his computer screen, web-conferencing. He can discuss his health problems with his doctor back home. "The doctor who can see his patient on his computer screen can give advice and prescribe the treatment to him," he added. "That way, our patients who are constantly on the move won't have to undergo the whole expensive process of redoing all the tests, which cost more than $2,000 abroad." Robert Hagerty, chairman of Polycom, said: "With video-conferencing, the doctors can provide better attention to patients in distant areas, they can train doctors by giving them specialised opinion." He said video-conferencing had contributed to global causes, such as controlling the deadly SARS epidemic by prescribing the procedures, donating equipment and allowing virtual visits to hospitals in the affected countries. "Video-conferencing in the long run will also aid in addressing global concerns such as natural disasters, bio-terrorism and to publicise WHO global alerts and responses," said Hagerty.
Source: IANS
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