The Hyderabad-based Health Management and Research Institute (HMRI), a non-profit organisation supported by Piramal Healthcare, is planning to roll out telemedicine services in the state in one year time.


Currently the Institute is running telemedicine services on an experimental basis in a dozen villages, including a tribal village of Andhra Pradesh. It is planning to open 50 more telemedicine centres in the state. The HMRI is also thinking to expand it to many other states. According to the Institute, the objective of its telemedicine service is to design a point of care, user friendly, cost effective, integrated multi functional device for rural telemedicine applications with emphasis on general physician functionality.


“We are planning to roll out telemedicine services in the state in one year and currently we are running the project on trial basis in the villages of Khammam, Mahabunagar and Vizag districts. We have already approached the state government for funding”, Dr Balaji Utla, CEO, Health Research and Management Institute told Pharmabiz.


Elaborating on the functioning of the proposed telemedicine centres, Srini Anumanchi of HMRI said that it will be a hub and model with the main centres involving an investment of Rs.30-40 lakhs and the subsidiary centres at a cost of Rs.2.5-3 lakhs. Simple tests will be carried out in sub centres and complex tests in main centres.


According to HMRI, the disease pattern at the primary health centre and sub centre level in rural India typically includes conditions like acute minor ailments, chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension, pregnancy and related illness and paediatric illnesses. Since there is a lack of trained physicians, there is a dire need for an ‘all in one’ comprehensive low cost point of care tele-med device which fills this gap.


Commenting on the scope of telemedicine, Dr Balaji Utla said that telemedicine offers great scope as many of the doctors are not ready to go to villages. Mobile telemedicine is the future of telemedicine. He stressed the need to come up with a law to define telemedicine. Srini Anumanchi said that telecardiology is an important aspect of telemedicine services.