Drug network for villages- healthcare Expansion Plan in pipeline

The Telegraph, 28th July, 2008

To take medical facilities to far-flung, remote areas, the Orissa government has decided to expand its tele-medicine network to 22 districts across the state.
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by health secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey and attended by director of tele-medicine programme of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) L. S Satyamurthi.
Till now the facility was available with the three government medical colleges that were linked to Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, through satellite-based V-SAT connectivity during the first phase.
The tele-medicine network would now be expanded to include district hospitals of Koraput, Bhawanipatna, Baripada, Rayagada, Sundergarh, and Capital Hospital, Bhubaneswar. “The three medical college hospitals would be connected to 10 district headquarter hospitals through the tele-medicine network,” said Pandey
“If the attempt is successful, in the next phase we will target connecting blocks, community and public health centres,” he said. A managing committee will be formed to supervise programmes being undertaken under the scheme.
Tele-medicine activities were initiated in Orissa in 2001 with support from the Lucknow institute.
In the same year, Isro came forward with an offer to establish a tele-medicine network in the state that was accepted by the government.
The network, it was decided, would be completed in a phased manner.
In phase-I, the network was established in 2003 connecting all the three government medical colleges of Orissa to the Sanjay Gandhi centre through satellite-based VSAT.
In 2004 the department of information and technology, ministry of communication and IT agreed to include SCB Medical College, Cuttack, in another tele-medicine project that linked it to other premier medical institutes in the country.
Since then, the network has effectively expanded and has benefited about 1,167 patients through tele-consultation and tele-follow up services. The government has been providing an amount of Rs 1 crore annually for expansion of the Network.
A central tele-medicine node within the premises of the SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack, to monitor the activities of the state wide network is also in the pipeline.
The centre would also help design, develop and implement new tele-medicine projects in the state. “ISRO would extend all help to expand and strengthen tele-medicine activities,” said Satyamurthi, expressing his satisfaction over the workings of the system in Orissa.