Telemedicine: Health Care from Distance

In a country like Bangladesh that lacks hospitals, telemedicine is proving to be a boon. Doctors at some of the major hospitals have adopted telemedicine services and the sector has been growing slowly in the last five years.

No formal study has been conducted yet to estimate the valuation of the telemedicine sector in the country, but the data of the Telemedicine Working Group of Bangladesh (TWGBD) indicated that telemedicine services have been able to save Tk. 15 to 20 crore worth of money for people in rural parts of Bangladesh who otherwise would have had to spend that amount to come to Dhaka for medical treatment.
Quality healthcare services, especially the ones from specialist doctors, are something that the people from rural areas of Bangladesh cannot avail. Ironically, some 70 per cent of the total population lives in the country’s rural areas, whereas 75 per cent of all the qualified physicians practise in the urban areas.
Thus, it has become more and more common nowadays to find a huge rush of villagers towards the cities for healthcare services. This not only imposes an extra financial burden on villagers, but also puts pressure on the cities as these can barely provide all sorts of civic amenities to its own regular habitants.
Besides, roads and highways are still underdeveloped across the country. The increasing number of vehicles plying on those has created traffic snarls even on the highways.
Under such circumstances, telemedicine has turned out to be the saving grace for Bangladesh, believe experts.
 
Govt initiatives
Telemedicine is not a new concept. It has been tried out in different countries since the 1990s. But this service was introduced only in the past few years, but failed to acquire the momentum required to popularize the concept amongst the people.
The government, however, wants to popularize the service on a massive scale. The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) division under its 'Info Sarkar' project had launched 25 Telemedicine Centers at different upazila health complexes in January 10, 2015, to provide healthcare facilities to the rural people.
Physicians and doctors of 11 medical university and college hospitals and institutions, including Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Shaheed Suhrawardy Hospital, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, National Institute of Chest Disease and Hospital and National Institute of Ophthalmology, among others, will provide advice and treatment regularly to the patients of rural areas for free.  
Different types of modern tele-gadgets, including tele stethoscope, tele ophthalmoscope, tele spirometer, tele thermometer, tele ECG, tele BPG machine, tele pulse oximeter and tele microscope, and eight other kinds of modern equipment have been sent to 25 upazila health complexes to run these Telemedicine Centers.
 Good response
The project director of 'Info Sarkar Project', Saiful Islam, told The Independent that under his guidance, the project has materialised in just 16 months.
Saiful Islam, also a joint secretary with the government, said telemedicine is the only feasible way to provide quality healthcare to rural people.
“The doctors don’t want to go to the villages for obvious reasons. As Bangladesh is well covered by the telecommunications network and the present government truly wants to create a digital Bangladesh, we have opted to start telemedicine services on a massive scale,” he explained.
Saiful Islam said under the government’s telemedicine project, a dedicated chamber is maintained in all 11 renowned hospitals of Dhaka. “This chamber has all the machinery and dedicated and trained personnel to control those. Specialist doctors are asked to provide their time for specific periods of the day in that chamber to treat patients from rural areas.”
He said they are also monitoring the progress and the response of the patients. “The health directorate is also instructed to monitor the progress and the Management Information Service (MIS) wing.”
Shukhendu Shekhor Roy, systems analyst of the MIS Wing of the health directorate, said the number of patients is increasing and the feedback from the patients is also very positive.
 
Other services
Aside from the latest telemedicine services introduced by the government, some private organisations had earlier taken up initiatives to provide remote healthcare services to the underprivileged.
Grameenphone, the country’s leading mobile operator, introduced the service in four upazilas across the country as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts in 2012.
Grameenphone had also provided funding to transform some 15 Union Information Service Centres (UISCs) of the government into telemedicine centres. It has also provided enough funding so that entrepreneurs in those centres could be trained on the system to assist the consultants as telemedicine assistants.
With its network, the operator has also ensured smooth video conferences between the consultants and patients with a bandwidth of at least 1 mbps.
On August 9, 2014, Distressed Children & Infants International (DCI), a US-based non-governmental organisation, introduced its Telemedicine Center at Kalyanpur Health Clinic in Dhaka’s Kalyanpur.
Dr Azizul Huq, a cardiologist from Atlanta, Georgia, assumed leadership and organised a team of expatriate doctors to provide telemedicine support for the underprivileged people of Bangladesh. 
 
Benefits of telemedicine
Dr Reza Bin Zaed, one of the founding figures of TWGBD, told The Independent that the ways in which rural hospitals can take advantage of advances in telemedicine and mHealth technology are many, and include remote consultations, in-home monitoring, outsourced diagnostic analysis, and remote specialist consultations.
Also, when rural patients know their hospital is using telemedicine, they have higher regard for that hospital and are less likely to bypass it for treatment at an urban facility, he added.
“Instead of waiting days or weeks for a healthcare professional to travel to a remote area, or travelling to a hospital and waiting for an appointment, telemedicine enables remote physician consultations that are faster, cheaper and more efficient than traditional healthcare appointments.”
He said for consultations on simple health concerns, or follow-up on existing conditions, remote consultations can dramatically improve the patient experience while improving the economics of rural hospitals at the same time.

Telemedicine: Health Care from Distance

In a country like Bangladesh that lacks hospitals, telemedicine is proving to be a boon. Doctors at some of the major hospitals have adopted telemedicine services and the sector has been growing slowly in the last five years. No formal study has been conducted yet to estimate the valuation of the telemedicine sector in the country, but the data of the Telemedicine Working Group of Bangladesh (TWGBD) indicated that telemedicine services have been able to save Tk. 15 to 20 crore worth of money for people in rural parts of Bangladesh who otherwise would have had to spend that amount to come to Dhaka for medical treatment. Quality healthcare services, especially the ones from specialist doctors, are something that the people from rural areas of Bangladesh cannot avail. Ironically, some 70 per cent of the total population lives in the countrys rural areas, whereas 75 per cent of all the qualified physicians practise in the urban areas. Thus, it has become more and more common nowadays to find a huge rush of villagers towards the cities for healthcare services. This not only imposes an extra financial burden on villagers, but also puts pressure on the cities as these can barely provide all sorts of civic amenities to its own regular habitants. Besides, roads and highways are still underdeveloped across the country. The increasing number of vehicles plying on those has created traffic snarls even on the highways. Under such circumstances, telemedicine has turned out to be the saving grace for Bangladesh, believe experts. Govt initiatives Telemedicine is not a new concept. It has been tried out in different countries since the 1990s. But this service was introduced only in the past few years, but failed to acquire the momentum required to popularize the concept amongst the people. The government, however, wants to popularize the service on a massive scale. The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) division under its Info Sarkar project had launched 25 Telemedicine Centers at different upazila health complexes in January 10, 2015, to provide healthcare facilities to the rural people. Physicians and doctors of 11 medical university and college hospitals and institutions, including Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Shaheed Suhrawardy Hospital, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, National Institute of Chest Disease and Hospital and National Institute of Ophthalmology, among others, will provide advice and treatment regularly to the patients of rural areas for free. Different types of modern tele-gadgets, including tele stethoscope, tele ophthalmoscope, tele spirometer, tele thermometer, tele ECG, tele BPG machine, tele pulse oximeter and tele microscope, and eight other kinds of modern equipment have been sent to 25 upazila health complexes to run these Telemedicine Centers. Good response The project director of Info Sarkar Project, Saiful Islam, told The Independent that under his guidance, the project has materialised in just 16 months. Saiful Islam, also a joint secretary with the government, said telemedicine is the only feasible way to provide quality healthcare to rural people. The doctors dont want to go to the villages for obvious reasons. As Bangladesh is well covered by the telecommunications network and the present government truly wants to create a digital Bangladesh, we have opted to start telemedicine services on a massive scale, he explained. Saiful Islam said under the governments telemedicine project, a dedicated chamber is maintained in all 11 renowned hospitals of Dhaka. This chamber has all the machinery and dedicated and trained personnel to control those. Specialist doctors are asked to provide their time for specific periods of the day in that chamber to treat patients from rural areas. He said they are also monitoring the progress and the response of the patients. The health directorate is also instructed to monitor the progress and the Management Information Service (MIS) wing. Shukhendu Shekhor Roy, systems analyst of the MIS Wing of the health directorate, said the number of patients is increasing and the feedback from the patients is also very positive. Other services Aside from the latest telemedicine services introduced by the government, some private organisations had earlier taken up initiatives to provide remote healthcare services to the underprivileged. Grameenphone, the countrys leading mobile operator, introduced the service in four upazilas across the country as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts in 2012. Grameenphone had also provided funding to transform some 15 Union Information Service Centres (UISCs) of the government into telemedicine centres. It has also provided enough funding so that entrepreneurs in those centres could be trained on the system to assist the consultants as telemedicine assistants. With its network, the operator has also ensured smooth video conferences between the consultants and patients with a bandwidth of at least 1 mbps. On August 9, 2014, Distressed Children Infants International (DCI), a US-based non-governmental organisation, introduced its Telemedicine Center at Kalyanpur Health Clinic in Dhakas Kalyanpur. Dr Azizul Huq, a cardiologist from Atlanta, Georgia, assumed leadership and organised a team of expatriate doctors to provide telemedicine support for the underprivileged people of Bangladesh. Benefits of telemedicine Dr Reza Bin Zaed, one of the founding figures of TWGBD, told The Independent that the ways in which rural hospitals can take advantage of advances in telemedicine and mHealth technology are many, and include remote consultations, in-home monitoring, outsourced diagnostic analysis, and remote specialist consultations. Also, when rural patients know their hospital is using telemedicine, they have higher regard for that hospital and are less likely to bypass it for treatment at an urban facility, he added. Instead of waiting days or weeks for a healthcare professional to travel to a remote area, or travelling to a hospital and waiting for an appointment, telemedicine enables remote physician consultations that are faster, cheaper and more efficient than traditional healthcare appointments. He said for consultations on simple health concerns, or follow-up on existing conditions, remote consultations can dramatically improve the patient experience while improving the economics of rural hospitals at the same time.