The Tripura state government along with committed homoeopaths and ICT (Information and Communication Technology) wizards has evolved a unique Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) initiative for setting up a "Tele Medicine" project in the north eastern parts of the country.
 
Thanks to the dynamic vision of the state government, the successful implementation of this Project has enabled the spread of cost effective Homoeopathic medicine to the masses living in the remotest places of the state.

Considered the first of its kind project in the world, the ICT model has reached the doorstep of the hitherto inaccessible rural masses as part of the efforts at achieving the Millennium Development Goal, benefiting thousands of hapless people to preventive and curative health care systems.

This project has bagged the prestigious "eHealth World Forum" in the category of the 'Best Public Private Partnership Initiative' recently. Over past more than one and half years since February 2010, ICT health services have been reaching 20,000 people in the ten blocks of western Tripura region.


The Telecommunication centres have been linked with Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital at Agarthala, the capital city of Tripura, manned by government paramedical staff. This was in turn linked to ICT-enabled real-time doctor consultation facility at the National Institute of Homoeopathy in Kolkota and a Mumbai-based expert Dr Jawahar Shah's Mind Technologies. A platform for live video coverage of the facilities interlinking all the units had been established using the Tripura State Wide Area Network.

So far, the project had screened more than 15,000 people, half of them women, during the last 15 months, setting an example worth emulating for other parts of the country and remote areas in developing countries of Africa and Asia.

In fact this novel project was envisaged by the Chennai-based Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited (IL&FS)' Education and Technology Services and Mind Technologies that provided complete vision, technical design and content including remote support and training of the health workers.

Dr Jawahar Shah, who is credited with developing a home-grown homoeopathic software system ‘Hompath’ said, "This will help people accept Homoeopathy and avail of it at a much affordable cost. It will overcome all geographic, economical and social barriers faced by the rural citizens and help them obtain quality primary, preventive and curative services through Homoeopathy."

Prof Maurice Mars, Dept of Telehealth, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, South Africa, said telemedicine could play a vital role in India and African countries.

Adding further he said, "People who need ICT live in the rural areas and at the bottom of the pyramid. According to WHO report 2006, Africa has 24 per cent of the disease burden but only 3 per cent of health workers command less than one percent of world health expenditure. Thirty one African countries have 10 doctors or fewer per 100,000 people whereas in India, there are 60 doctors per 100,000."

"Developed countries spend 2 - 2.5 per cent of their health budget on health ICT where as in US, it is US$ 55 per person and in Africa, it is US$ 0.70. Implementation of telemedicine in the developing countries face major problems related to high telecommunication costs, low internet penetration, lack of literacy and computer literacy and language." Prof. Mars said while highlighting the role of private sector in facilitating the benefits of ICT in healthcare.