ISRO’s bid to improve healthcare access in rural areas
— Photo: K. Pichumani
S.S. Badrinath, chairman of Sankara Nethralaya (right), K. Ganapathy, president,Apollo Telemedicine Networking Foundation, and Preetha Reddy, managing director, Apollo Hospitals, at a press conference in Chennai on Monday.
CHENNAI: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will introduce 20 more mobile telemedicine units in the country by the end of the year as part of improving access to healthcare in rural and remote areas, according to L.S. Sathyamurthy, programme director (telemedicine), ISRO.
Addressing a press conference on Monday ahead of a three-day national telemedicine conference beginning here on November 1, Mr. Sathyamurthy said the mobile units were planned in the north-east belt, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and the hinterlands of other States.
The ISRO is providing satellite connectivity for 10 mobile units, including four in Tamil Nadu, in addition to networking 250 major hospitals with primary health facilities across the country.
The highlights of the 3rd national conference of the Telemedicine Society of India, hosted by Apollo Telemedicine Networking Foundation, Hospitals, Sankara Nethralaya and Sri Ramachandra Medical University, include lectures on sub-specialities of tele-ophthalmology, tele-radiology and tele-cardiology, and live demonstration of mobile tele-consultation from a hospital-on-wheels.
K. Ganapathy, chairman, organising committee, said Chennai featured 40 per cent of telemedicine applications taking place in India.
S.S. Badrinath, chairman, Sankara Nethralaya, said telemedicine was the ideal tool that enabled medical professionals to reach out to the rural masses, especially given the dearth of specialists in villages.
Preetha Reddy, managing director, Apollo, spoke.
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