As tele-consultation with doctors is becoming the norm among people, literally locked in their houses due to the coronavirus threat, the Government has come out with a set of guidelines regarding the e-platform to enable the medical professionals reach out to the needy.
The idea is not only to reduce the load on the already over-burdened hospitals and avoid unnecessary exposure to both medical professionals and patients but also to prevent malpractices, if any.
Incidentally, despite the concept being recognised and defined by the WHO and its spreading influence over the past decade, it is only now that India has come out with such guidelines which singularly deals with the practice of Telemedicine here.
Prepared by the Board of Governors, which was set up in supercession of the Medical Council of India, in collaboration with the Niti Aayog, the ‘Telemedicine Practice Guidelines’ gives detailed do’s and don’ts while engaging in tele-medicine and tele-consultation and ensure that ethics are maintained on the part of medical professionals.
“There are a number of benefits of telemedicine…In India, providing In-person healthcare is challenging, particularly given the large geographical distances and limited resources. One of the major advantages of telemedicine can be for saving of cost and effort especially of rural patients, as they need not travel long distances for obtaining consultation and treatment,” say the guidelines.
The Government feel that with telemedicine, there is higher likelihood of maintenance of records and documentation hence minimalises the likelihood of missing out advice from the doctor other health care staff.
Thus, health systems that are invested in telemedicine are well positioned to ensure that patients with Covid-19 kind of issues receive the care they need, it says.
The guidelines aims to assist the medical practitioner in pursuing a sound course of action to provide effective and safe medical care founded on current information, available resources, and patient needs to ensure patient and provider safety.
The BoG will soon develop an online programme on practice of telemedicine to familiarise the doctors with the subject. “All currently registered medical practitioners need to complete a mandatory online course within 3 years of notification of these guidelines to provide consultation via telemedicine. Thereafter, undergoing and qualifying such a course, as prescribed, will be essential prior to registration of a medical practitioner,” as per the guidelines.
The doctors can use any telemedicine tool suitable for carrying out technology-based patient consultation e.g. telephone, video, devices connected over LAN, WAN, Internet, mobile or landline phones, chat platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger etc., or Mobile App or internet based digital platforms for telemedicine or data transmission systems like Skype/ email/ fax etc.
However, the guidelines have made it clear that though telemedicine consultation provides safety to the medical professionals from contagious conditions, it cannot replace physical examination that may require palpation, percussion or auscultation; that requires physical touch and feel.
It also clearly specify the categories of medicines that can and cannot be prescribed.
As per the guidelines, doctors are strictly prohibited from insisting on telemedicine, when the patient is willing to travel to a facility and/or requests an in-person consultation and misuse patient images and data, especially private and sensitive in nature. If found violating, penalties will be as per the IMC Act, ethics and other prevailing laws.