Chennai based Space Hospitals, a telemedicine service provider, in collaboration with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) has launched the pilot project of telemedicine network "Sagar Space Chikitsa" at one of ONGC's oil grids in Mumbai. The pilot project will be operational for three months after which it will be rolled out at all installations having living accommodation at ONGC Mumbai offshore.

The SLQ platform in Mumbai Offshore will be connected to Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai to provide instant medical care to the workers if a need arises. The telemedicine system will provide instant as well as critical healthcare to over 2500 personnel stationed at 24 rigs and production platforms of ONGC once both Lilavati hospitals and ONGC are satisfied with the pilot project.

"Sagar Space Chikitsa" is meant to link and equip the remote offshore locations and super specialty hospitals through a server-browser based telemedicine system. The solution allows medical data to be streamed from remote locations like Mumbai offshore to specialists in real time. The same data is simultaneously stored in a centralized server for later review and reporting.

The system provides medical information and consultation in all fields of medicine which include cardiology, orthopaedics and surgical. This system in offshore locations is designed to be simple and requires very low maintenance.

A standard IBM compatible PC is installed with the necessary operating system along with a browser. The medical devices and the video conferencing system are connected into one simple system via the PC to the server software. The VSAT connectivity is used to connect the remote systems with the centralized server.

"This is the first public sector tie up of Space Hospitals. The uniqueness of this project is that we have also provided connectivity to the helicopters that carry the patient from the grid to the hospital. This is done to monitor the patient while he is being transported from one oil grid to the hospital which is nearly 175 kms away," said A Sivakumaran, chief financial officer, Space Hospitals Limited.

Sivakumar said that N K Mitra, director-offshore in Mumbai inaugurated the launch on May 22. Mitra had reportedly stated that it was a long cherished dream of ONGC to provide quick medical advice and help to offshore personnel in case of emergency.