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Telemedicine project for Pune PHCs

Our Bureau

PUNE, April 30

A TELEMEDICINE pilot project of Doctoranywhere.com has been launched at the Primary Health Care Centre, Wagholi near Pune on Monday. The project is a joint initiative of the Tata Council for Community Initiatives (TCCI) and Ruksun Doctoranywhere.com.

Mr Chetan Shetty, Chief Executive Officer, Ruksun Doctoranywhere.com, told presspersons that the project would use Internet-based technology to connect the PHCs in Maharashtra with key medical specialists. This includes neurology, nephrology, gastrology and cardiology specialities. The project will eventually connect the 88 PHCs in Pune district.

In the first phase, the service is being tested at three PHCs, Wagholi, Chakan and Paud, all near Pune. It would be monitored for 90 days after which it would be extended to more PHCs, Mr Shetty said. Wagholi PHC is UNICEF-funded and is being looked at a s the model project for the entire State.

Mr Shetty said Doctoranywhere.com had completed installation of computers with Internet connection at these three centres. The 24-hour call centre of Doctoranywhere.com will provide the service to these PHCs to ensure that specialists in Government hospi tals responded to the cases within 24 hours, he said.

Mr Shetty added that in the next phase, this project would be deployed in all the PHCs of the State. The Andhra Pradesh Government had also shown interest in implementing such a project. He said that currently about 1,500 doctors were using the service i n 13 States.

Asked about the revenue model for such a project, he said that Ruksun Doctoranywhere.com was looking at pharma sponsorships, software sales and transaction fees. It has already obtained about Rs 10 lakh as pharma sponsorship and charges Rs 50 per case as transaction fee. It would look at the option of bringing in more funds at a later stage, he added.

Ruksun Doctoranywhere.com is a Web-based doctor-doctor tele-consultation service established in September 1999 and is the first dotcom to be accredited with an ISO 9001 Certificate from Det Norske Veritas (DNV) Netherlands.