Telemedicine- worth the experiment

A shrivelled Tulsabai Phuljale, 60, sitting in a remote village in Wardha district of Maharashtra, converses over the Internet with a city doctor who prescribes some pain killers and a blood test for persistent body aches. Vilas Urkule is a happier man with his numb hand restored after the Internet doctor advised him to apply a bandage and take some medicines. For Phuljale, Urkule and 10,000 other villagers, who earlier had to travel 40 km to reach the nearest hospital at Sawangi, the Gramdoot Telemedicine Centre at Hingni village has effected a silent revolution. Now a doctor is just a click away and consultation is available through video-conferencing. This way they save at least Rs 60, the cost of visiting a private doctor. Established barely two months ago, it is a testimony of the efficacy of public-private partnership.

The local administration and NSP Futuretech, a private it firm, had been operating a kiosk called Gramdoot to provide computerised land records to villagers for the past two years. When the company learnt about a telemedicine kit manufactured by a Bangalore-based company, it teamed up with the Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences to set up the centre in a 10x12 m (is it metre or feet?) area provided by the administration. The centre is a cement and brick structure painted in green, displaying proudly every bit of the Rs 2.5 lakh Futuretech has spent on it.

Villagers in Hingni are poor. They either grow fruits or work in a nearby chemical factory. For the first two months the centre rendered free service, but now charges Rs 10 for consultation and Rs 30 for various tests. About 10 patients visit it with complaints of fever, cold, cough and body aches every day. Many villagers expect the machine to provide them instant relief, though. “What’s the point of coming to a doctor if he doesn’t give an injection?” says Kiran Shilke, a villager.

According to Abhyuday Meghe, the quacks in the village give an injection even for small complaints like common cold, which makes the villagers believe that they are being treated well. In order to explain the benefits and limitations of the centre, the administration is planning to hold orientation camps every week. The district administration is now planning to spread the benefits of this system to other villages as well. "We are planning to open two more centres at Hinganghat district and Arvi village by the end of this month," reveals Girish Joshi, District Supply Officer.