:: Tele diagnosis ::

“To harness the power of current and emerging Information technologies in providing second opinions for serious, complex and / or medico-legal (negligence) cases from the top super-specialists to patients through their local referring doctors anywhere the world.”

A diagnosis that is made at a remote location and is based on the evaluation of data transmitted from instruments that monitor the patient and a transfer link to a diagnostic center

The goal of this project is to evolve an infrastructure framework for strengthening the Community Health centers through an integrated solution covering Tele-diagnostics in the area of Cardiac care ,Radiology ,Pathology and Ophthalmology that can be scaled along with select Clinical Service providers and a referral hospital network.

The aim of this project is to manage the Community healthcare center requirements through a Community healthcare management solution in which Tele-diagnostics would initially be made available in 4 clinical areas, namely, cardiac care, radiology, pathology and ophthalmology. The aim of this project is to ensure

The guiding principle for this project is to have a single infrastructure for multiple health services and the solution should be such that it could be expanded in scope to other clinical areas based on the disease disposition in that region.

By doing this, India will significantly strengthen the use of technology in administering health for its citizens.

SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

Scope of the Project is integrating 100 primary care Hospitals with 5 geographically well centralized  Secondary care Hospitals as First referral Hospital and in turn connected with One Tertiary care Hospital in Mumbai for Tele diagnosis of ECG, Radiology/PACS and  Tele Pathology for the interpretation and Tele consultation services

The aim of our research is to manage the Community healthcare center requirements through a Community healthcare management solution in which Tele-diagnostics would initially be made available in 2 clinical areas –

1. Cardiac care
2. Ophthalmology.

The aim of this project is to ensure

• Ability to maintain basic longitudinal patient records
• Patient identification through a photo – bar coded swipe card
• Build transparency in the pharmaceutical requirements at Rural Hospitals
• Automate the administrative aspects of the Rural hospital
• Provide Tele-Diagnostics as a standard OPD feature at the desk of the doctors in Rural Hospitals
• Generate select reports needed by the district health officials seamlessly.

·         Reduction in Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR)

·         Improved access to public health services such as Women’s health, child health, water, sanitation & hygiene, immunization, and Nutrition.

·         Prevention and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases, including locally endemic diseases

·         Access to integrated comprehensive primary healthcare

·         Population stabilization, gender and demographic balance.

·         Revitalize local health traditions and Promotion of healthy life styles

Issues in Service System

Studies from developed countries demonstrate that an orientation towards a specialist-based system enforces inequity in access. Health systems in low income countries with a strong primary care orientation tend to be more pro-poor, equitable and accessible. At the operational level, the majority of studies comparing services that could be delivered as either primary health care or specialist services show that using primary care physicians reduces costs, and increases patient satisfaction with no adverse effects on quality of care or patient outcomes.

In India, Primary Health Centers (PHCs) are the cornerstone of rural healthcare; a first port of call for the sick and an effective referral system; in addition to being the main focus of social and economic development of the community. It forms the first level of contact and a link between individuals and the national health system; bringing healthcare delivery as close as possible to where people live and work.

The current PHC structure is extremely rigid, making it unable to respond effectively to local realities and needs. Moreover, political interference in the location of health facilities often results in an irrational distribution of PHCs and sub-centers. Government health departments are focused on implementing government norms, paying salaries, ensuring the minimum facilities are available rather than measuring health system performance or health outcomes. Further, the public health system is managed and overseen by District Health Officers. Although they are qualified doctors, they have barely any training in public health management; strengthening the capacity for public health management at the district and taluk level is crucial to improving public sector performance.

The lack of accountability stems from the fact that there is no formal feedback mechanism and incentive to treat citizens as clients. Patients often complain of rude and abrupt health workers that discriminate against women and minorities from scheduled castes or tribes. The lack of accountability leads to absentee doctors; as it is difficult to attract qualified doctors to rural areas, inconvenient opening times and little or no community participation.

The lack of resources, which is acute in some states, is certainly a contributing factor to the poor performance of the primary healthcare system. In poor states, spending levels are low while expectations for coverage remain high. The incongruence between resources and targets result in lack of medicines; the current budget for essential drugs is insufficient to cater to large number of patients, limited doctor salaries. In order to improve primary care services, a number of approaches are used in developing countries. Capacity building and encouraging community involvement are some of the main factors. Capacity building aims to improve the knowledge and skills of primary care professionals and community involvement improves governance and accountability of public primary health clinics, which lead to increase in drug supply and improved provider skills. A widely used mechanism to improve primary health services is contracting.

Methodology  – What is e- Health?

e- Health is an ICT enabled solution to harness the power of current and emerging Information technologies in providing second opinions for serious, complex and / or medico-legal (negligence) cases from the top super-specialists to patients through their local referring doctors anywhere the world.

It is a diagnosis that is made at a remote location and is based on the evaluation of data transmitted from instruments that monitor the patient and a transfer link to a diagnostic center.

The goal of this concept is to evolve an infrastructure framework for strengthening the Community Health centers through an integrated solution covering Tele-diagnostics in the area of Cardiac care, Radiology, Pathology and Ophthalmology that can be scaled along with select Clinical Service providers and a referral hospital network. e-Health aims at managing the Community healthcare center requirements through a Community healthcare management solution in which Tele-diagnostics would initially be made available in four clinical areas, namely, cardiac care, radiology, pathology and ophthalmology.