New Delhi, 24th March: The 275,000 strong Indian Medical Association (IMA) joined hands with the Telemedicine Society of India (TSI) and ISRO to celebrate March 24th as “IMA National Telemedicine Day”. The IMA, TSI, ISRO and partners like Apollo Hospitals declared their intention to help inform citizens on the use and adoption of Telemedicine to bridge the urban-rural health dividein India.
To mark the occasion, a specialist conference was held at the Army Hospital Research &Referral, New Delhi. More than 100 centres with about 3000 delegates participated virtually for the conference.
The chief guest for the conference was Sh. J.P. Nadda, Hon’ble Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. Dr. K. Sivan, Chairman, ISRO/Secretary, Department of Space was the Guest of Honour. Additional Secretary and DGHS, Government of India, Dr. R. K. Vats, represented the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Dy. Director General, WHO HQ, Geneva, was present through video-conferencing, thereby underlying the import of the launch event.The armed forces also participated for the event, with Lt. Gen. CS Narayanan, Deputy Chief (Medical), HQ Integrated Defence Staff making a presentation on how the Armed Forces are deploying telemedicine.
The convenor for the event, Prof K. Ganapathy, Head, Apollo Telehealth, said, “It was on March 24th 2000 that the world’s first VSAT enabled village hospital (VSAT provided by ISRO for Apollo Hospitals, Aragonda) was formally commissioned by Mr. Bill Clinton, the then president of the United States. Learnings from this innovation, led ISRO to include Telemedicine as one of its major societal initiatives. Marking that momentous day, the Indian Medical Association has formally declared March 24th as IMA National Telemedicine Day.”
Prior to this, as early as in 1975, ECG signals had been transmitted through India’s first satellite “ARYABHATA”. The Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) Program by ISRO in 1975 involving about 2000 villages across India, unfurled the application of SATCOM technology for Education and Healthcare. Subsequently, 300 remote and rural district hospitals, 200 village resource centres and 18 mobile units across the country were connected to 60+ Specialty hospitals and Medical colleges. More than a million teleconsults have been enabled through this network alone.
Dr. Ravi Wankhedkar, National President IMA, reiterated that, “IMA is committed to joining the Telemedicine Society of India to work relentlessly to make all stakeholders aware of the importance of Remote Health Care. While building hospitals, medical colleges and increasing the number of doctors is critical, the simultaneous growth of information communication technology to improve access to health services will be the game changer.”
Also present were Dr. R N Tandon, Hony. Secretary General, IMA and Sh. Ashok Sangal, President Telemedicine Society of India, who expressed their happiness that the central government and many state governments are recognising that telehealth can be crucial to bridge the urban rural health divide.