The telemedicine division of Apollo Groups of Hospitals, Apollo Telemedicine Networking Foundation (ATNF), will soon start a home linked Telemedicine program at Chennai, next week.

According to the program, testing equipments for ECG, blood sugar, blood pressure etc., will be installed at the patient’s residence to help the doctor monitor the condition of the patient from the hospital itself. The system of converting the residence equipped as a hospital will enable the doctors and patients to have dedicated communication network, Prof. K Ganapathy, Head, Apollo Telemedicine Network, Chennai told Pharmabiz.

He said that the pilot project of Domiciliary Telemedicine program, on an experimental basis would set up equipments in 20 houses in Chennai and further expansion of the program would be decided as per the evaluation after six months. He said that though the technical part of the project has been decided, the matter of investment for the equipments is yet to be finalized.

Apollo has commenced a hospital-moving on-wheels project, Distance Healthcare Advancement (DISHA), recently. The project under the Apollo Hospital, Madurai, in co-operation with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Philips India, is in its pilot stage. A medically well-equipped Van, designed by Philips India, travels from village to village and facilitates medical aid from ATNF through satellite communication. Apollo Hospitals is planning to introduce more medically equipped vans, after evaluating the project after six months, said Ganapathy.

ATNF has also entered into a venture with Reliance Infocomm, leveraging the nationwide chain of 240 WebWorlds in 105 cities of the latter, to offer high-quality healthcare in the last week. The new tie-up offers tele-consultation with specialists and super-specialists at Apollo Hospitals, second opinion services relating to the diagnosis and management of a variety of clinical conditions, specialist review of investigation reports like ECG and Echocardiography and Apollo-e-doc to seek online appointment with doctors across the Apollo Hospitals Network through Reliance Infocomm communication Chain.

The company is also in talks with countries like Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Mauritius, Yemen, Muscat, Bahrain, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand for setting up telemedicine facilities in these countries.