To fulfil Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of using space technology to deliver health care services in remote and inaccessible areas, Union Health Minister JP Nadda on Saturday inaugurated tele-medicine facilities at snow-bound Pooh in Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh.
The initiative is part of the Government's telemedicine project wherein the Health Ministry and Department of Space (DoS) have joined hands to set up satellite communication based telemedicine nodes at various unreachable geographical locations, including Chardhams and other important pilgrimage centres like Amarnath, Ayappa and Kedarnath.
Also, the scheme aims to meet the shortage of doctors and provide basic health care and emergency medical care in remote, inaccessible areas in the country.
Jitendra Arora, Director (eHealth) in the Health Ministry, said the telemedicine node has been set up at Sheshnag base camp enroute to Amarnath Shrine (situated at a height of over 13,000 feet) under extreme weather conditions, difficult terrains and other unexpected challenges.
The tele consultation for this node is planned through SKIIMS (Srinagar), PGIMER (Chandigarh) and AIIMS (Bhopal), he added.
At CHC, Pooh, one of the remote snowbound area of Kinnaur District in Himachal Pradesh, citizens are offered specialist consultation with linkage from telemedicine facility at PGIMER, Chandigarh while JIPMER in association with the ISRO that has set up telemedicine node for specialised treatments to Sabarimala pilgrims.
Explaining about the process, Arora said the employees at the patient node examine the basic medical details. "The data is then transmitted to specialist node over satellite connectivity. The doctor at specialist node examines the case and the tele-consultation appointment is fixed between doctor and the patient.
“During the tele-consultation, doctor can ask the paramedic staff to again take the vital stats of the patient and the same data is then transmitted to doctor's screen who will then provide the diagnosis/instructions via telemedicine software to patient in consultation with patient node staff," he added.
Initially the tele-health services are being provided in the field of medicine, orthopaedics, respiratory and cardiology disciplines.