Wockhardt launches Heart Connect telemedicine service

EHM News Bureau - Bangalore

Wockhardt Hospital and Heart Institute, Bangalore has launched the Heart Connect telemedicine service, the first of its kind in the country which enables Wockhardt doctors to access and monitor the vital parameters of their patients in the ICCU in real time from anywhere in the world.

With the use of a simple dial up connection Wockhardt cardiologists can link up and monitor the patients’ critical parameters like ECG, pulse oxymetry, heart rate, pressure and temperature. "These parameters are the source from where we take the decision for further treatment of the patient particularly in a cardiac emergency like a heart attack," said Wockhardt’s cardiologist Dr Ranganath Nayak while speaking to the press.

The Heart Connect technology is aimed at minimizing the time for vital decision making process and has significant value for patients with cardiac emergency since 8 doctors can simultaneously link up to study these parameters and cross consult with each other on the treatment of patient. The Heart Connect facility is already helping Wockhardt cardiologists and cardiac surgeons to take critical decision in associating with their colleges at the hospital at odd hours in the night and provide a continuous cover to their patients.

The aim behind the Heart Connect technology was to give our patients an environment of care wherein our cardiac team gives them the benefit of their expertise even when they are physically not present at the hospital, said Vishal Bali, Vice President, Wockhardt Hospital.

The hospital’s association with world renowned Harvard Medical School will enable the Wockhardt team to use the facility in challenging cases to cross consult their colleagues in the US.

The most significant contribution of this technology will be felt in reaching the expertise of Wockhardt’s cardiologists to the rural population of Karnataka.

Nursing homes and hospitals in the remote locations of the state will have access to their expertise in taking life saving decisions for their heart patients. "Our team has spent more than a year in perfecting this technology in order to make it accessible through a routine telephone line reducing the dependency on high bandwidth," says Bali.

"We believe that this technology has the potential to reach our expertise and help in the most acute state of heart patients life," he adds.