‘Telemedicine’ is a combination of Greek and Latin words. ‘Tele’ in Greek means ‘distance’, and ‘mederi’ in Latin means ‘to heal’. Therefore, the literal meaning of the word telemedicine is ‘distance healing’. Telemedicine is not a technology or a process in itself, but encompasses all methods that bridges the geographical limitations and facilitate providing health services from a distance.
Many a time patient requires going for surgical procedures abroad because of lack of availability of advance treatment in their home country. Therefore, the patient decides to travel to a place where quality healthcare may be readily available and at lesser cost even.
Along with the clinical visual data, textual information can also be exchanged electronically at a much faster speed than any conventional communication methods. The medical information of the patient is converted into electronic records which can be made available to all the healthcare providers form the starting itself, despite the different physical locations. The patient can have one-to-one interaction with his foreign care provider; the primary care physician can also participate in the consultation. He can also be a part of the surgical procedures, if any. Through telemedicine, the medical records can be viewed and exchanged. Telemedicine can help the patient to continue receiving follow up care from the healthcare providers even after traveling to his native country. His primary healthcare physician can also become involved in the follow up care by holding consultations remotely.
by Dr Prem Jagyasi
www.DrPrem.com
