Narayana Health (NH) has now entered into an alliance with Cisco to deliver affordable critical care services remotely using the Virtual Expertise Digital Solution (VEDS). This will enable NH to offer diagnostic services in neurology, nephrology, oncology and cardiology to patients remotely across India, besides conduct critical investigations like Diacom viewing to detect thrombolysis.

Cisco will also implement modifications to hospital infrastructure to integrate and set up advanced telemedicine solutions across 3 centres covering Sirsi and Ballari in Karnataka and Rajarhat in Bengal via the main centre at Narayana Health City located in Bommasandra, Bengaluru.  

The VEDS will connect patients with specialists conveniently and efficiently, regardless of the distance. The solution brings in high quality voice, video and data. It will also allow real time telemetry of medical device data like ECG, and radiology reports along with a web-based portal which supports mobile end-points.

According to the 2013 Cisco Customer Experience Report, 74 per cent of consumers are open to a virtual doctor visit. Therefore, the VEDS is expected to offset India’s skewed patient-physician ratio of  1:1,674 as against the required 1:1,000.

The highly secure medical-grade network with a high-definition two-way video was launched in the presence of Dr. Devi Shetty, chairman, Narayana Health and VC Gopalratnam, CIO, APJC, president, IT and chief of strategy, planning and operations, Cisco India.

The encrypted, highly secure platform will make sure the safety and privacy of the patient records which will not be disclosed, accessed, altered, or deleted inappropriately while being stored or transmitted, said Gopalratnam, adding that the collaboration demonstrates the future of healthcare in India.

“Healthcare and its inaccessibility is a persistent concern in India. We are in an era of digital transformation as our  hospitals begins this transition. We need to create infrastructure that is agile and adds value to patient care,” said Dr. Shetty.

The hospital which was a pioneer in telemedicine in the country had  linked up with ISRO almost a decade and half ago. We treated around 60,000 patients via this technology and now as a digital hospital, we intend to ensure that this remote service is accessible to India’s 1.2 billion population, said Dr. Shetty.

There were two live consultations at Rajarhat New Town and Jindal Sanjeevani, Ballari. Speaking on the occasion, Debashish Sen, chairman, West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) said “Rajarhat New Town is using ICT as a strategic differentiator. We will leverage technology to deliver specialized healthcare which will facilitate a higher quality of life for the residents. We look forward to the Cisco-NH initiative to provide remote specialized healthcare and revolutionize the delivery of health care in India.”