Amrita Research Labs has developed this integrated telemedicine solution for linking various clinics and hospitals located in the remote areas of India with Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center (AIMS), Kochi. Telemedicine, reduced to its simplest form, is connecting geographically separate health care facilities via telecommunications, video, and information systems. It is the use of telecommunications technology to provide, enhance, or expedite health care services, by accessing off-site databases, linking clinics or physicians’ offices to central hospitals, or transmitting x-rays or other diagnostic images for examination at another site.
Telemedicine is the use of telecommunications technology to provide, enhance, or expedite healthcare services by accessing off-site databases, linking clinics or physicians’ offices to central hospitals, or transmitting x-rays or other diagnostic images for examination at another site. Healthcare professionals can make use of these linked telemedicine medical devices in the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of patients in other locations as well as for research.
AIMS is one of the few medical institutions in India chosen by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Government of India, to participate in its pilot “Telemedicine Project” which provides tele-consultations to remote locations in India such as the Lakshadweep Islands and Leh-Ladakh. It is a vibrant department, active in medical care, education and research. We have tele-education programs such as CME, conferences and workshops with world-class institutions such as the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Beth Israel Hospital at Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Division of Digestive Diseases, the University of Illinois, Chicago, Division of Gastroenterology and Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Science, Lucknow.
Telemedicine is a method by which specialist doctors can examine, investigate, monitor and treat patients in remote areas through satellite video-conferencing. Medical images, patient records and output from medical devices can be transmitted, as well as live two-way audio and video. Specialists can advise, online, doctors or paramedics at the patient’s end, and if necessary even guide them in surgery.
AIMS has been providing compassionate care through telemedicine since 2003, servicing remote islands such as Lakshadweep and Andaman-Nicobar, as well as Leh-Ladakh in Kashmir. Now, more than 60 centers in India are connected from Amrita. Amrita has also used the technology to provide specialty medical support during times of natural disasters, including the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and 2008 Bihar floods.
The Centre comprises of:
The Institute of Medical Informatics and Multimedia Education is a center of excellence for the provision of multidisciplinary medical education of an international standard and includes: