One small step for humans and one giant leap to mankind that we all know is because of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). What we don’t know is that Telemedicine was first used by NASA in 1989 to monitor Astronauts remotely and in this case, it was way out of this World to take care of the Astronauts and understand how their physiology responded to space and low gravity.
Telemedicine / Telehealth is the buzz word now just like zoom meetings and all because of the lockdowns due to the COVID-19 Crisis. A lot of people without knowing about telemedicine have always consulted their family physician over Phone in times of need and got the much-needed consultation and most of the times when you hear your Doctor’s voice there is an assurance and your heart rate and temperature goes down and you start feeling a little better already.
Telemedicine is not new, it’s been there for decades and existed since the time telecommunications started to grab the attention of every human and interconnect every individual. There are good and not so good versions of telemedicine but ultimately the onus is always with the care provider.
In the past few decades, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) along with Tata Memorial set up satellite clinics and consultations using actual satellites and this helped a lot of cancer patients and bringing the doctor community together using technology. You can read more about ISRO’s Telemedicine project and what it does and which are the tribals that they connect for treatment here. Of course, there is no movie on this and Akshay Kumar probably didn’t know about this so you probably didn’t know that.
Telemedicine is used in almost all the primary health centers in the northern parts of India and I heard this story from a friend who had to be admitted in Keylong, Himachal Pradesh a beautiful small town where he had symptoms of Hypoxemia which occurs when levels of oxygen in the blood are low. The state-run primary health center consulted with Apollo Doctors via Video Con and went over the patient reports to ensure that the patient got all the care that was needed.
It’s not Telemedicine that is new, it’s the idea of consulting with Doctors over telephone, video and possibly chat that is new and this has started to get acceptance into our society and even for the developed world; that care can be delivered remotely but not all care can be delivered remotely. It is the provider (Doctor) who decides and just like how you would listen to a professional/expert you should always listen to your doctors. If anyone knows about Human Body, Diseases, Conditions, and how everything affects the human body it is Doctor Saab / Saiba your family physician or a specialist.
The Government of India and the Medical Council of India have done a fantastic job and quick turnaround on Telemedicine guidelines and clearly mentioned what can be done for follow up patients, new patients, and even new consultations for new symptoms or conditions with existing patients. You can get a quick faq or read the entire document at this link
If you are a Doctor and looking for a simple and easy to use solution that will take your consultations online and convert your existing clinic into a Digital Clinic I would suggest that you use MyTeleOPD Digital Clinic. It is simple, intuitive, your patients and you don’t have to install an app and configure it (YES It’s True) it directly runs on the browser and there are a ton of features and technology that will give you and your patients a Digital Experience with state of the art compliance. Try today and you can reach out via a missed call (click here to call) or fill out this easy form to be contacted.
