{"id":572,"date":"2020-12-18T19:22:49","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T19:22:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/?p=572"},"modified":"2020-12-31T07:19:51","modified_gmt":"2020-12-31T07:19:51","slug":"indias-telemedicine-leapfrogs-on-covid-19-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/indias-telemedicine-leapfrogs-on-covid-19-back\/","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s Telemedicine Leapfrogs on COVID-19 Back"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Namya Mitra<\/em>
Elpro International School, Pune, Maharashtra<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak as a pandemic, with over 39.3 million cases reported in more than 215 countries as of October-16. The response strategy includes early diagnosis, patient isolation, symptomatic monitoring of contacts, suspected and confirmed cases, and public health quarantine. This disease, transmitted by contact, has wreaked havoc in India- a country with 1.38 billion people and a population density of 464 per km2. In such a comprehensive scenario, a pragmatic system of doctoring has been recognized – Telemedicine.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In layman’s terms, Telemedicine refers to ‘healing from afar,’ supported by over-the-net consultations and prescriptions. Telemedicine, particularly video consultation, has been scaled up and promoted to prevent the risk of transmission amidst the pandemic. Significant cases amongst Health-Care Workers (HCWs) have been witnessed due to a high risk of exposure at the frontline. Telemedicine solves this problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On-demand Telemedicine, a 21st-century approach to forward-triage that allows accurate diagnoses, is patient-centred and conducive to self-quarantine that prevents community exposure. Using tailored techniques, Rural Medical Practitioners (RMPs) can remotely identify patients and provide timely medical advice and prescriptions, which otherwise might not be available. Telemedicine can also be a powerful gate-keeping and coordination mechanism to ensure the productive use of emergency units, strengthening the efficacy of emergency-response infrastructure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, in most countries, a supervisory framework is paucity to authorize, integrate, and compensate telemedicine services, including in emergency and outbreak situations. The Government of India (GoI) is laudable in this scenario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recognizing the scope of Telemedicine in India, the GoI implemented a digital health policy that “Advocates use of digital tools for improving the efficiency and outcome of the healthcare system and lays significant focus on the use of telemedicine services, especially in the Health and Wellness Centers at the grassroots level wherein a mid-level provider\/health worker can connect the patients to the doctors through technology platforms in providing timely and best possible care.” Errors in diagnosis or miscommunication might lead to grave consequences for the self-administering patient. To combat these challenges, the policy also underlines how to use ICT sources to transmit data, images, and information in conjunction with other clinical standards, protocols, policies, and procedures for providing care. The GOI also launched the eSanjeevani app to connect patients with government doctors digitally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, the Government’s real test will be in expanding the network across rural areas. India, even before the pandemic, was unable to provide total healthcare in rural areas. Incentives to entice RMPs to practice in rural areas have failed. When we examine the compatibility of such a telehealth system in India, we come across specific challenges. 65.53% of the population lives in rural areas. 22% of our population is below the poverty line. Thus, the Internet’s penetration and smartphone access in India is low at only 32%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, according to a Government publication, Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Health Centres will be based as Telemedicine Centres, forming a digital three-tier telehealth system analogous to India’s present mechanism. The Government needs to get Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) online, which would help people with no smartphones to avail of teleconsultation facilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many advancements have been made before the pandemic, operating as a solution. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has a telemedicine network, which has augmented in the past three years to connect 45 remote\/rural hospitals and 15 super-specialty hospitals, including islands of Andaman-Nicobar and Lakshadweep, the mountains of Jammu and Kashmir, including Kargil and Leh, and some rural\/district hospitals in the mainland states of India. The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, C-DAC, has developed a software system that supports Tele-Cardiology, Tele-Radiology, Tele-Pathology, etc. Such advancements help increase the authenticity and approachability of Telemedicine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impact is visible. According to the Economic Times, Teleconsultations have been growing at over 100% week-on-week. There is almost a 50% increase in the number of doctors joining Practo. ‘The new guidelines have given doctors authenticity and confidence to get on to the platform. Queries regarding fever, cough, cold, sore throat and body ache have increased by 200%,’ said Dr. Alexander Kuruvilla, Chief Health Strategy Officer, Practo. The Government’s eSanjeevani OPD platform has completed four-lakh teleconsultations since its launch in April amid the pandemic, providing an optimistic outlook for Telemedicine’s growth and future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disasters and pandemics, such as COVID-19, pose unique challenges to every economy and its underlying health infrastructure. Although combatting this virus requires a multifaceted approach, Telemedicine augments healthcare availability, considering its relative advantages over in-person consultations. Telemedicine’s scope as a permanent fixture in India’s health infrastructure, outside the pandemic and in newer fields such as hepatology, maternal care, etc., is worth being further measured, explored, and implemented.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Namya MitraElpro International School, Pune, Maharashtra On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak as a pandemic, with over 39.3 million cases reported in more than 215 countries as of October-16. The response strategy includes early diagnosis, patient isolation, symptomatic monitoring of contacts, suspected and confirmed cases, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[192,189,190,191],"class_list":["post-572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-tech","tag-free-online-publishing-platform","tag-namya-mitra","tag-telemedicine","tag-vov-writer","post_format-post-format-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":573,"href":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572\/revisions\/573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takhte.in\/VoiceofViews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}