Telemedicine in Transient Phase: Emergence of M-Health Care Services

Abstract

The fusion of medical science and technology has emerged ‘Telemedicine’ as a new technological platform, for providing healthcare services to the masses residing in rural and remote areas. The government and non-government bodies are striding hard to implement and promote telemedicine across India. Despite of various initiatives, telemedicine is starving to find the place in healthcare service sector. With the emergence of mobile technology, telemedicine has reached in transient phase. The advancement in mobile technology has improved the accessibility of qualitative healthcare among rural masses. The present research work is an attempt to analyze various telemedicine projects undertaken by the government and to highlight the gaps of low popularity and accessibility among the people. The study also suggests mobile-based model for healthcare. The model demonstrates integration of various healthcare services under the common interface based on mobile applications. It also includes patient-doctor interaction interface system, patient monitoring system, e-payment, online pharmacy and pathology. The use of proposed model will not only reduce the cost of healthcare but also facilitate immediate availability of services. The model-based application provides convenient platform for interaction between doctor and patient. The online payment and monitoring system keep track of patient’s economical and health status. The review of various reports and literature reveals that traditional telemedicine practice is passing through transient phase, in which, mobile-based medical applications are replacing traditional practices of healthcare. The findings also reveal the limitations of implementing telemedicine such as delay in response time, low frequency of conducting tele-conferences, lack of infrastructures and lack of awareness among patients. The present study is an attempt to resolve these issues with use of an integrated system for healthcare that can provide low cost, timely and speedy healthcare services. The study concludes that mobile-based applications are real time applications and are more useful as compared to traditional practices in telemedicine services.