Nanavati Hospital: Telemedicine is the Future

Since the commencement of the telemedicine department at the Dr Balabhai Nanavati Hospital, many lives have been lent a golden touch with the aid of ICT.

Telemedicine

From its humble foundation in 2006 with 1 peripheral center, the telemedicine master center has grown leaps and bounds to provide services to 32 peripheral hospitals in India and 53 African countries through the pan-African network, making it the largest telemedicine service provider in western India. The hospital has also been identified to broaden the scope of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Maharashtra state project to 20 more subdistrict hospitals in Maharashtra.

Talking about the initiative, Dr Pavan Kumar, consultant cardiovascular surgeon and head, telemedicine department, Dr Balabhai Nanavati Hospital, explains, This has been our dream initiative. It has recently been awarded the prestigious e-gov award for its e-governance initiative. Telemedicine has proved extremely useful in reaching to the remote regions and offering them the best healthcare services. Apart from consultation sessions, regular follow-ups of patients is also done.

In its continuous efforts to bridge the divide between the facilities available for the rural and urban population, telemedicine has proved to be a knight in shining armor. The center has also received approval from the Konkan Railways to offer services to 11 hospitals in its network. Adding a feather to its cap is the fact that the center has provided more than 3,000 teleconsultations and more than 100 CMEs since 2006. Be it providing services as a center for NRHM, catering to the needs of the hospitals CSR initiative, or offering treatment related advice to villages in Africa or India, this center has ensured that it puts its best foot forward.

The special studio has been set up with the aid of connectivity with the satellite, and use of electronic devices like Sony CMOS, large electronic polyvision touch screen board, Sony Anycast editing station, Canon visualizer, 42 plasma monitor by Hitachi, servers from HCL, etc. Connectivity to African nations is ensured with the aid of undersea fiber optic cables.

Apart from teleconsultations and tele-eduction sessions, a homecare division has also been set up providing innovative services like monitoring BP, pulse, ECG, oxygen saturation, etc, remotely. BlackBerry and Vodafone with the aid from Maestros eUNO server which has a window based software, provides the facility for automatic identification and updating of patient records thus enabling cardiologists of hospital to monitor the patients remotely.

The Road Ahead

Today the hospital has been able to reach out to remote villages and provide medical care through hospitals, NGOs, orphanages, etc, with the aid of IT implementation. But will this journey stop here or will technology like those implemented in Australia and the US, be able to prevent the frequent visits of patients to metropolises or main hospitals for surgeries. Highlighting this aspect better, Dr Kumar adds, This dream will soon be the reality of the future. We intend to take this initiative ahead and ensure that surgeons are able to conduct operations from the hospital premises itself. Healthcare enabled by mobile vans equipped with 3G connectivity and investigating parameters which would be further viewed by a specialist, and healthcare enabled by mobile network are going to be the future.

Shilpa Shanbhag
shilpas@cybermedia.co.in