Apollo Telemedicine and m-health: transforming health care through mobility
The India-based Apollo Telemedicine Networking Foundation believes telemedicine will transform health care in India and beyond within the next decade. Professor K Ganapathy, President and Head of the Foundation, tells us about its history and purpose, and the self-imposed challenge to establish 1,000 telemedicine centers in 1,000 days, ultimately performing 1,000 consultations per day.
The Foundation provides mobile broadband-enabled medical monitoring to vast areas of suburban and rural Asia, particularly India, that have no physical access to specialist health care. The organization is part of the Apollo Hospitals Group, one of the largest health-care providers on the subcontinent. Ganapathy, who is also a senior consultant neurosurgeon, talks about Apollo Hospitals’ telemedicine journey and its evolution from solutions based on video meetings to services based on IP and wireless technology.
He highlights the partnership with Ericsson and the influence of the company in the Foundation’s decision to pursue mobile-health (m-health) solutions.
Ericsson has worked with the Foundation since an August 2007 mobile-broadband trial in a few remote Indian villages demonstrated how wireless technology could be utilized to help with remote medical tasks such as checking blood pressure, listening to heart rates and clinical examination.
Ganapathy says the Foundation wants to continue to work closely with Ericsson as it expands its telemedicine operations.
The ability of mobile and ICT technology to bridge the gap between doctor and patient through data transfer has allowed the Foundation to conduct more than 70,000 remote consultations across 25 areas of specialist medical care. But that figure could soon look tiny compared with the number of virtual consultations in the next few years. Ganapathy talks about how ICT will be central to a huge challenge the Foundation has set itself: to establish 1,000 telemedicine centers in 1,000 days, with a minimum 1,000 consultations per day.
The Foundation currently has 93 centers in India and nine beyond the country’s borders.
The ability of mobile broadband to advance the health sector will play a key role in Ericsson’s prediction of a world with more than 50 billion connected devices by 2020. Ericsson believes the technology will deliver similar transformative benefits to other vertical industries.
Today, April 7, is World Health Organization (WHO) World Health Day 2011.
The Foundation provides mobile broadband-enabled medical monitoring to vast areas of suburban and rural Asia, particularly India, that have no physical access to specialist health care. The organization is part of the Apollo Hospitals Group, one of the largest health-care providers on the subcontinent. Ganapathy, who is also a senior consultant neurosurgeon, talks about Apollo Hospitals’ telemedicine journey and its evolution from solutions based on video meetings to services based on IP and wireless technology.
He highlights the partnership with Ericsson and the influence of the company in the Foundation’s decision to pursue mobile-health (m-health) solutions.
Ericsson has worked with the Foundation since an August 2007 mobile-broadband trial in a few remote Indian villages demonstrated how wireless technology could be utilized to help with remote medical tasks such as checking blood pressure, listening to heart rates and clinical examination.
Ganapathy says the Foundation wants to continue to work closely with Ericsson as it expands its telemedicine operations.
The ability of mobile and ICT technology to bridge the gap between doctor and patient through data transfer has allowed the Foundation to conduct more than 70,000 remote consultations across 25 areas of specialist medical care. But that figure could soon look tiny compared with the number of virtual consultations in the next few years. Ganapathy talks about how ICT will be central to a huge challenge the Foundation has set itself: to establish 1,000 telemedicine centers in 1,000 days, with a minimum 1,000 consultations per day.
The Foundation currently has 93 centers in India and nine beyond the country’s borders.
The ability of mobile broadband to advance the health sector will play a key role in Ericsson’s prediction of a world with more than 50 billion connected devices by 2020. Ericsson believes the technology will deliver similar transformative benefits to other vertical industries.
Today, April 7, is World Health Organization (WHO) World Health Day 2011.
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