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Using IT will not only enable experts to dispense advise to patients across the smaller
zillas
and districts of the States, it will also allow them to disburse help on slightly
more serious matters. Video-conferencing technologies are already being very successfully
used by States like Tamil Nadu, where hospitals such as Apollo are using them for
hands-on surgery. In fact, it is possible for surgeons to actually guide the local doctors
through an entire surgery—right down from which scalpel to begin
with, and which laser to use, when. It is almost like the doctors are
actually present at the scene of action.
IT meanwhile could prove to be a significant tool for the medical
community within the country itself. Already a number of healthcare
sites are coming up on the Net that not only give out free advise to patients, but which
also allow the medical fraternity to improve its knowledge base and train itself on the
latest medical technologies of the day. Knowledge of new diseases and their cures could be
gained through Web casts made by experts in the know, which could be viewed by doctors
all across the country. A breakthrough surgery being performed by a team of surgeons in
the leading hospital in Chandigarh could be watched by newbies in the smaller towns and
villages, who could pick up tips and learn as they watch the stalwarts in action.
In fact, thanks to Websites that would archive these surgeries, doctors could even go
back to them in their free time, accessing that information any time, from any place!
Doctors, constantly on the move, could also use the Internet to stay in touch with
their regular patients. It is fashionable in the US to be on hot line with “your shrink”
(
read that as “Internet-ically” hooked to your psychiatrist!) In India’s
case such facilities could be put to more fundamental use, with doctors
remotely taking care of more serious disabilities of their regular
clientele!
Our more traditional and alternative modes of medicine such as
Ayurveda and Homeopathy could also receive a fresh “injection” of life through hi-tech.
Portals catering to these disciplines could come up, which when accessed by the common
villager, would inform him about a particular “
dadi ma ka nuksah
.”
Healthcare in India then can undergo a complete metamorphosis, provided the
Government of India embraces information technology in a big way.
A healthy country is a productive country—that I believe should be the motto!
n
Ayurveda and Homeopathy can also
receive a fresh dose of
hi-tech life. As more portals on these
subjects pop up, villagers can access
them for some
dadi ma ka nuksah!
