VELLORE: A satellite medical centre was launched here by Sankari Hospital, Vellore, in association with Space Hospitals, Chennai, on its premises on the Government Pentland Hospital Road here on Sunday. Vellore MLA C. Gnanasekharan inaugurated the centre in the presence of a large number of doctors including representatives of the Indian Medical Association.

The objective of the centre is to provide telemedicine facilities to people in the rural areas at affordable costs.

Visitors at the Sankari Hospital can get the benefit of expert opinions of the best medical specialists in Space Hospitals or other hospitals connected to its network through advanced communication technologies including Satellite Internet and videoconferencing facility.

E. Padmanabhan of Space Hospitals, who demonstrated the functioning of the telemedicine equipment, said Space Hospitals had, so far, tied up with 46 hospitals in the country under its telemedicine project.

T. Sadagopan, Tamil Nadu State secretary of Indian Medical Association, T. Kumaraguru, former State president, and S. Damodaran, State treasurer, participated.

S. Murali of Sankari Hospital welcomed the gathering.

Lack of specialists

In a press release issued in connection with the launch, Space Hospitals CEO Sanjay Bharadwaj said according to studies, 50 per cent of deaths in rural medical centres were owing to lack of specialists for treatment and the resultant delays in care. In the model provided by telemedicine, a doctor in a rural area can share medical information with a specialist in order to improve the accuracy of the diagnosis.

Anything from ECG results to X-Rays can be shared with leading doctors in the field, who can converse in real time. The costs have been subsidised for this launch, and are on a par with the prices rural Indians already pay for real-time care.

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