IT ministry to frame telemed guidelines

Rita Dutta - Mumbai

In order to standardise and monitor the functioning of telemedicine centres, the Ministry of Information Technology (MIT) has nominated a 15-member national committee to frame appropriate guidelines. The committee members comprise experts drawn out from the field of medicine, IT and government officials from the ministries of health and infotech.

The members of the committee have already met twice to deliberate on different issues related to tele-medicine. No definite time frame has been specified about the formation of the guidelines. "The process may take some time as developing standard will require involvement of ministries of IT, Communication, Health and Law," said a member of the committee.

Meanwhile, experts in telemedicine have decided to come together to form the Telemedicine Society of India, during the first annual telemed conference to be held in the month of November at Lucknow. The society would comprise doctors from various disciplines, healthcare administrator, IT professionals and telemedicine service provider. "The society can suggest to policy makers and facilitate information of the guidelines, since many of the members of society are also members of the national standardisation committee," added the member.

Experts emphasise on standardization of telemedicine to solve medico-legal issues, problems related to reimbursement of doctors, which have proved to be a deterrent to telemedicine. The national committee would also address issues related to the use of the right technology for image transfer. Though DICOM is the only format of image transfer, reportedly telemed centres are cutting corners by using scanners for transfer of tele-radiology images.

"Most European countries have constituted Health Telematics group and there are several sub committees working in different areas. Even in the US the American Telemedicine Association is working towards formation of guidelines," said the member.

The government has recently emphasised on strengthening of primary health centres through telemedicine. MIT has initiated a USD 1.5 billion project called "Development of Telemedicine Technology", linking Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, or Nehru hospital, Chandigarh, and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi. The project uses the technology of teleradiology, telepathology, telecardiology and video conferencing.