Upcoming telemedicine projects

* Andhra Pradesh: The success of the telemedicine projects at Aragonda in Chitoor district and at Mahaboobnagar General Hospital of Apollo hospital has encouraged the state government to push for telemedicine links with all districts.

* Maharashtra: The Pune district administration has teamed up with www. doctoranywhere.com and Tata Council for Community Initiatives (TCCI) to launch a telemedicine service from a government primary healthcare center.

* Gujarat: The U.N. Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre which has telemed cenres in Ahmedabad, Rajkot and Gandhinagar, is planning to expand to 58 cantres across the country.

* Karnataka: Bangalore-based Narayana Hrudayalaya had entered into joint venture with the Indian Space Research Organisation and six state governments besides the governments of Malaysia and Mauritius for telemedicine consultancy at 27 district hospitals.

* Tamil Nadu: Shankar Netralaya has started a project worth Rs 102.5 million to reduce incidence of curable and preventable blindness. The project involves construction of a fully equipped Base Unit at St. Thomas Mount, Chennai with continuous connectivity to super specialists located at Chennai.