Medical Services Through Phone On Anvil

Can cellphones save lives? Marking a significant shift, Indian healthcare providers are now looking at extending medical services through mobile telephony. This means a cancer patient in a Tamil Nadu district hospital can have the option of consulting a specialist in Kolkata or a heart patient in Meerut can receive treatment from a cardiologist in Bangalore.

Apollo Hospitals — which is already running a telemedicine project — is planning to ramp up its plans of providing medical services through technology like Bluetooth enabled glucometers or stethoscopes to send ECG results or sugar test to its panel of doctors. Last week saw the launch of a 46-member strong conglomeration of hospitals, health insurers, medical service providers under the aegis of NatHealth or the Health Federation of India which among other things plans to provide access to standardized healthcare at reasonable cost.