8/2/2019 ICT- Telemedicine and Capacity Building (Manish Kumar)

1/3

1 | P a g e

Telemedicine and Capacity Building

Uptake of telemedicine within the public health system has grown in India. However,

wider uptake and use remains a challenge especially in the rural areas. Even the National

Rural Health Mission does not have any systematic plan to promote telemedicine.

The National Health Mission is in the making. It is high time to address important issues

hindering large scale growth and use of telemedicine in Rural India. This document has

put forth some important suggestions for the public health system to act on.

Policy and Advisory support under Government Leadership

Develop a supportive policy framework, programme guidelines, include it innational, and state level health plans to promote use of telemedicine

Create an advisory body at state and district level to lead and guideimplementation of telemedicine programmes

Establish quality standards for the telemedicine servicesGenerate Awareness and Confidence

Conduct focused campaigns (involving civil society organizations) using multiplemedia to raise awareness and confidence about telemedicine (not only

technology), its use, cost and benefits to the rural community

Collaborate with local organizations and associations to develop and implementawareness programmes on telemedicine

Showcase value of technologies trusted and used by communities to accesstelemedicine services

Use multiple technologies (mobile phones, voice based interventions, integrationof voice with web and kiosk, etc.) to strengthen interpersonal relationship with

community and to enable access to health care services

Identify champions for the cause of telemedicine and seek their support

8/2/2019 ICT- Telemedicine and Capacity Building (Manish Kumar)

2/3

2 | P a g e

Engage Community

Involve community members/leaders in awareness and capacity building efforts Seek inputs from community members for designing and implementing

appropriate telemedicine programmes

Create mechanism to gather feedback on utility and quality of telemedicineservices

Integrate with Annual Health Planning

Include telemedicine programme guidelines in district health planning processes Advocate for acceptance and inclusion of telemedicine guidelines in state

planning

In the plan define nature and type of services available through telemedicineCapacity Building and Coordination

Create a national resource group to support telemedicine efforts in India Establish a state level nodal agency for coordinating telemedicine efforts in the

state and for leading capacity building programmes (development of training

curriculum (in local languages), conducting trainings and offering supportservices (in a collaborating way)

Develop a training plan for training of state, district, block and frontline healthworkers in use of modern telemedicine facilities to improve quality of health care

services and integrate it with state training calendar

Build capacity of state agencies (SPMU, SIHFW, Directorate of Training, etc.) toimprove understanding, knowledge and skill to use and promote telemedicine

Collaborate and build capacity of local educational institutions to offer courses(certificate, diploma, etc in classroom as well as e-learning mode) supporting use

of technology in health

8/2/2019 ICT- Telemedicine and Capacity Building (Manish Kumar)

3/3

3 | P a g e

Infrastructure:

Coordinate with other development departments (transport, electricity,telecommunication, drinking water, etc) to roll out telemedicine services in areas

where basic infrastructure is available

Create basic IT infrastructure to facilitate use of low cost technology (like mobilephones, web-camera) to offer telemedicine services

Establish a central telemedicine infrastructure at the state/district level only toreduce cost and ensure better technological support and maintenance services

Financial Capacity

Promote and build on low cost technologies which are in use at the communitylevel

Create a coordination unit to monitor state wide telemedicine efforts in thepublic health system to ensure integrated efforts and avoid duplication. Thus,

reducing cost.

Invite private investment in telemedicine through partnerships which aresupported by appropriate policy framework