Telemedicine in Rural India

Abstract

Although nearly 75% of Indians live in rural villages, more than 75% of Indian doctors are based in cities. Might telemedicine be a cheap and fast way to bridge the rural-urban health divide?

Treating Uveitis in the Developing World Setting

“…Although Government provides primary to tertiary care largely free of cost, only 0.9% of the country's annual gross domestic product is spent on healthcare and very little of this reaches remote rural areas. [6][7][8] However, Government health services are often not used by poor people. Several reasons are cited, including poor infrastructure, lack of sustainable care during critical circumstances, and nonavailability of trained personal, to mention only a few.…”

“…Nearly 75% of Indian doctors are based in cities, whereas about 70% of patients in this country are village-based and rural Indians lack access to basic healthcare facilities. 7 A large share of the demand in rural side is directed toward less qualified private providers who may not provide ''the best standard of care.'' Sometimes the quality of prescriptions and details of the drugs prescribed may be inadequate.…”

Investigating the resistance to telemedicine in Ethiopia

“…Given that telemedicine represents a novel service model that differs from the familiar traditional face-to-face approach, it is not uncommon for health care professionals and patients to find the idea difficult to embrace. The medical literature suggests that health care professionals have negative attitudes toward telemedicine for several reasons: fear of handling computers, anxiety that telemedicine will reduce their job security, apprehension that the return on investment for telemedicine is low, and concern that the physician-patient communications will be ineffective [8]. Physicians are also concerned that the implementation of telemedicine technologies may alter current work practices, challenge physician referral methods, or interrupt their workflow [9].…”

Low-Cost Remote Patient Monitoring System Based on Reduced Platform Computer Technology

“…[6][7][8] In developing countries such as India, telemedicine assumes a significant role in providing affordable healthcare to about 91% of the 1 billion people who are not covered in health schemes. [9][10][11] Although organizations such as Indian Space Research Organization have launched health satellites for helping in rural health telemedicine schemes, 12 the fact remains that a lot more needs to be done to address the healthcare needs of majority of the population and provide cheaper infrastructure for the rural population. One of the primary hindrances toward the popularization of telemedicine in India is the escalating infrastructure cost required to build and maintain a dedicated telemedicine unit.…”