Evolving Role of Telemedicine in Health Care Delivery in India

Abstract

Introduction: India is the world's largest democratic country, and second most populous country in the world. Despite recent successes in the economic front, India still faces many social challenges like poverty, illiteracy, sanitation, gender inequality, and lack of healthcare for all. The healthcare disparity is mainly due to shortage of trained health care professionals and lack of necessary infrastructure in remote areas of the country. Telemedicine as a tool for health care delivery, particularly in the rural areas where 68% of the population lives, has been addressed by the Government of India since the turn of the century using telemedicine. Telemedicine as a method of healthcare delivery has been successfully tested all over the country, and the results have been very promising.Methods: Literature search was done on Medline, Web of science and Google search engines using keywordstelemedicine, India model of health care delivery. Results:We found that telemedicine as a healthcare delivery system has been effectively used in several underserved areas of India, through the initiatives taken by the federal, state governments as well as private sector. Conclusion:Although not a substitute for traditional healthcare system, telemedicine can be used to overcome healthcare disparities in the underserved areas. This approach for healthcare delivery can be replicated around the world, especially in the developing countries

Implementation of a telemedicine service during COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan

“…3,4 A study conducted in 2017 reported an effective delivery of healthcare to several underserved communities via telemedicine. 5 A similar study more recently has reported that telemedicine can play an important role in this pandemic by preventing the virus spread and utilizing the time of healthcare professionals effectively as well as alleviating mental health issues. 6 In this feasibility study, we aimed to implement a pilot telemedicine service at our healthcare facility in Faisalabad, Pakistan, and describe our experience.…”

eHealth and Telemedicine in India: An Overview on the Health Care Need of the People

“…Besides these advantages there are several major concerns that hinders the complete use of telemedicine. For example, (Mishra et al, 2012;(National Telemedicine portal, 2019 Mathur et al, 2017;Ray et al, 2017). privacy was not maintained during teleconsultations done at Himalayan Institute Hospital Trustin Uttarakhand (Suresh & Nath, 2013).…”

“…Figure 1: Distribution of Telemedicine Centers in Indian States and Union Territories; No. of telemedicine centers in each state is indicated against name of each state (Mishra et al, 2012; (National Telemedicine portal, 2019; Telemedicine Division Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, 2019; SGPGIMS Lucknow Telemedicine Web Portal, 2019; National Health Portal of India, Government of India, 2019);Mathur et al, 2017;Ray et al, 2017).…”

Current Scenario of Teledentistry in Public Healthcare in India

“…Lack of proven assessment frameworks and standardised technology platforms, particularly for diagnostic devices, are a major reason for the slow adoption of telehealth solutions in India. 26,27 Data protection law India presently does not have any specific legislation governing data protection or privacy for telemedicine or teledentistry. The relevant law dealing with data protection are part of Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, IT Amendment Act, 2008 and the Indian Contract Act, 1872.…”