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T.E. Raja Simhan

Tindivanam (TN), Sept. 3 Intel Corporation and the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare today announced scaling up of healthcare projects in India.

The projects in Tamil Nadu will be an extension of Intel’s WorldAhead Programme, a global initiative to provide people in developing countries with the benefits of “better, faster access to information and communications technology (ICT),” according to Intel’s Chairman, Mr Craig Barrett.

Intel has already deployed its first remote health programme in a digital village pilot in Baramati, 120 km from Pune.

The projects include a tele-health programme for community hospitals and a school health monitoring system.

“Healthcare and education should be two most important priorities for any Government. Applying technology in pioneering ways can help increase access to healthcare and improve quality of care for people everywhere,” said Mr Barrett, who also chairs the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development.

“We have seen how technology has enhanced people’s lives in Baramati, and look forward to seeing this replicated on a larger scale across Tamil Nadu and the rest of the country,” he said.

“The e-health initiatives scaling across Tamil Nadu and the country prove how much can be achieved when private industry and Government work hand-in-hand to help millions of citizens lead healthier lives.”

During his visit to Tindivanam, a town 135 km from Chennai, Mr Barrett, who is on his ninth visit to India, inaugurated a tele-health pilot project at Tindivanam Taluk Hospital, a 100-plus bed facility serving a taluk of more than 210,000 people.

The pilot is being driven by Bangalore’s Narayana Hrudayalaya and Chennai’s Sankara Nethralaya hospitals and companies Microsense, SN Informatics and TCS.

The Web-based health referral system aims to provide improved and cost-effective access to healthcare and is hosted on TCS’s WebHealthCentral portal.

The project will bring community residents the benefits of health screening and remote diagnostics by specialists, beginning with ophthalmology and cardiology.

It will also enable doctors to view patient records and diagnostic images such as retinal scans over a secure computer network.

Through videoconferences, specialists across India can also examine patients remotely, according to an Intel release.

Mr Barrett also visited the St Philomena Girls’ Higher Secondary School for a look at a children’s health monitoring system developed by TCS.

This project addresses both healthcare and education by installing technology that ensures that the Government-aided school is a safe and healthy place for children.

The Web-based solution introduces school children and faculty to benefits like digitised health records and health camps with participatory, action-based health learning.

TCS hopes to create a model that can be implemented in schools across the country, said Dr Sumanth C. Raman, Advisor, Life Sciences and Healthcare Practice.

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