The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Telemedicine referral centre opened

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Sunday, Aug 02, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Telemedicine referral centre opened

Staff Reporter

It will help people from remote parts gain access to expert medical opinion at GH

Photo: R.Ravindran

Bridging the gap: Health Minister M.R.K. Panneerselvam at the inauguration of the telemedical education and telehealth services at the Government General Hospital in Chennai on Saturday. MMC Dean J. Mohanasundaram (left); Principal Secretary, Health, V.K. Subburaj; IT Secretary P.W.C. Dawidar; and Nodal officer, Telemedicine, GH, S.M. Chandramohan, are in picture. —

CHENNAI: A telemedicine referral centre which will help people from several remote parts of the State get access to expert medical opinion was inaugurated at the Government General Hospital here on Saturday.

Speaking at the launch of the telemedical education and telehealth services facility, Health Minister M.R.K. Paneerselvam said: “The centre will serve the people of Tiruvallur, Tiruvannamalai, Kancheepuram, Krishnagiri, Rameswaram and Udhagamandalam.”

As there was a shortage of specialists in medicine, the government had been taking measures to tap the potential of telemedicine, said V.K. Subburaj, Principal Secretary, Health.

Thanks to the new telemedicine facility, the reluctance of medical students to study in medical colleges in other parts of the State would be reduced considerably, he said. “The computerisation process of all taluk and district hospitals in the State would be completed at a cost of Rs.55 crore.”

All government medical colleges in the State would eventually be linked through the telemedicine education programme and students in all the colleges would be able to enjoy the same quality of education, said Mr. Subburaj.

The facility has already been inaugurated in government medical colleges in Tirunelveli and Coimbatore, said S.M. Chandramohan, nodal officer, Telemedicine, GH. The students in other medical colleges would get an opportunity to listen to lectures in Madras Medical College, he said. The complex surgeries performed in the hospital can be viewed by students of other medical colleges.

The telemedicine facility in Government Royapettah Hospital has done 1,037 consultations. Most of them were on radiology but cardiology and gastroenterology were also becoming popular, he said.

The new telemedicine facility in the Government General Hospital has the potential to serve 2.5 crore people in the State, said Dr. Chandramohan. IT Secretary P.W.C. Dawidar said the department was exploring the possibility of making telemedicine applications simpler and more inclusive. Dean of Madras Medical College J. Mohanasundaram spoke.

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