Centre funds Kerala's telemedicine project

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Union Government has approved funding for a tele-medicine project of the Kerala Government initially to be implemented in four places in the state. This is reportedly the first state project of its kind to be funded by the Union Government.

Under the project to be operational in six months time, four remote telemedicine referral centers (RTRCs) would be started at Kollam, Malapuram, Koilandy and Neyyatinkara taluks. These would be linked with the Thiruvanananthapuram Medical College, Regional Cancer Centers, Sree Chitra Institute of Medical Sciences.

The project envisages online consultation, transfer of medical reports for which each center would have a desktop PC with third party software, a printer, video conferencing equipment, imaging services, scanners, digital ECG equipment, MRI, CT Scan and digital camera. The RTRC's would work round the clock and are expected to enable patients residing in remote and rural areas to get the benefit of consulting experts based in cities without actually going there.

The project was sanctioned in Delhi following a presentation made at a workshop attended by senior officials of Ministry of Information Technology and Health. Soon more hospitals would be brought under the RTRC scheme.