Telemedicine at Amrita (AIMS)

"Where there is love, distance doesn't matter." —Amma

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In January 2003, the Amrita Telemedicine facility was inaugurated from Kavaratti on the Lakshadweep Islands located 220 nautical miles off the coast of Kerala. AIMS is the first institution in Kerala to begin using telemedicine to treat patients in remote places in India, such as the Lakshadweep Islands, Port Blair on the Andaman Islands and Leh, Ladakh, thereby vastly improving the quality of healthcare for the local populations. Telemedicine is a method by which specialist doctors can examine, investigate, monitor and treat patients in remote areas through satellite video conferencing. AIMS' telemedcine programme is made possible through its link with an ISRO [Indian Satellite Research Organisation] satellite. Telemedicine is used to transmit patients' medical images, records, output from medical devices and live two-way audio and video. With the help of these, specialist doctors can advise, online, the doctors or paramedics at the patient's end on medical care, or even guide the doctor during a surgery.

The goals of the Amrita Telemedicine programme are to provide speciality tele-consultations to the remote corners of India, to educate the doctors in these remote primary centres with the latest advancement in the field of medicine through such mediums as international seminars, workshops, teaching programmes, and to strengthen the skills and confidence of the doctors at the remote primary centres and build a better relationship with their patients.

The achievements of the Amrita Telemedicine project are many and varied:

• There has been a substantial decline in unnecessary referrals to specialists
• Patient satisfaction with the face-to-face video consultation has been significant
• Diabetes in gestational pregnancy brought under control and ensured safe delivery for Lakshadweep patient;
• Cancer diagnosis and treatment prescribed for SNM Hospital patient in Leh, Ladakh.

Videoconferencing also opened up new possibilities for continuing medical education or training for isolated or rural health practitioners, who may not be able to leave a rural practice to take part in professional meetings or educational opportunities. The Telemedicine service provides primary specialist diagnosis, second opinion, recommended treatment and post-treatment advice based on consultation and medical data test results, as well as enabling DNB teaching programmes to be telecasted to other telemedicine centres, like Tiruvananthapuram Medical College.

On 13th January 2003, AIMS's first remote tele-surgery procedure was performed. The Amrita Emergency Care Unit at Pampa (on the way to Sabarimala shrine of Lord Ayyappa, a famous pilgrimage centre in eastern Kerala) was able to save the life of a pilgrim by the tele-surgical procedure using the local telemedicine facility. The cardio-vascular thoracic surgeon guided the procedure remotely and the pediatric cardiologist at Pampa performed the procedure.

Both national and international seminars and workshops are being conducted regularly at AIMS.

Some future goals of the Amrita Telemedicine project include a mobile Tele-hospital to serve the rural and tribal areas of Kerala, postgraduate training programmes, live interaction of CME programmes with various telemedicine centrrs simultaneously and Amrita Telemedicine Satellite Centers over different parts of India to serve the needs of people.

Through the Amrita Telemedicine service, Amma has found yet another way of reaching out to Her children to ease their suffering. Amma's infinitely compassionate arms continue to extend in every conceivable direction.
Telephone: 011-91-484-2802121
Videoconference ISDN Number: 011-91-484-280-2802

Amrita is currently connected to about 34 ISRO centres and constantly adding more:
1. Indira Gandhi District Hospital, Kavaratti, Lakshadweep Islands
2. SRMC, Chennai
3. Sankara Netralaya, Chennai
4. G B Pant Hospital, Port Blair, Andoman & Nicobar Islands
5. Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow
6. SNM Hospital, Leh, Ladakh
7. Katuah District Hospital, Jammu & Kashmir
8. Guwahati Medical College, Assam
9. SHER-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Jammu & Kashmir
10. Govt. District Hospital, Jammu & Kashmir
11. Swami Vivekananda Memorial Hospital, Sargur, Karnataka
12. District Hospital, Carnicobar
13. AIIMS, New Delhi
14. Trivandram Medical College, Tiruvananthapuram
15. Amrita Emergency Centre, Pampa
16. Narayana Hrudayalaya, Bangalore
17. STNM Hospital, Gantok, Sikkim
18. Army Hospital, Leh, Ladakh
19. Army Hospital, Parthapur, Jammu & Kashmir
20. District Hospital, Androth, Lakshadweep
21. District Hospital, Amini, Lakshadwee.
22. District Hospital, Agatti, Lakshadweep
23. District Hospital, Minicoy, Lakshadweep
24. J.N.M. Medical College, Raipur, Chattisghar
25. District Hospital, Jagdalpur, Chattisghar
26. Dr.B.Borooah Cancer Centre, Gahawati, Assam
27. Regional Institute Of Medical Sciences, Imphal, Manipur
28. District Hospital, Nagarlagun, Arunachal Pradesh
29. District Hospital, Jorhat, Assam
30. District Hospital, Shillong, Meghalaya
31. District Hospital, Mokokchung, Nagaland
32. Rotary Hospital, Sirsi, Karnataka.
33. Gawahati Medical College, Guwahati
34. Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai