Telemedicine in Sri Lanka

by Omar RAJARATHNAM

Apollo Hospitals, India in a joint venture with Serenity Health Referral Services, Sri Lanka launched Telemedicine, a virtual medical consultation service, at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo on Tuesday.

From left CEO Serenity Health Referral Services Nilmini Withana, Deputy Health Minister Lalith Dissanayaka, Deputy General Manager of International Division, Apollo Hospitals Jithu Jose and Officer-In-Charge of Apollo Telemedicine Foundation Kevin Devasia Pic: Kavindra Perera

There are approximately 500 telemedicine centres in India which offer consultation for especially rural patients.

Telemedicine's expansion to Sri Lanka was welcomed by the Deputy Health Minister Lalith Dissnayake, the chief guest at the event.

"The launch which marks a new era of cross-border medical consultation and patients who wish to seek consultation services from Apollo Hospitals will now have the opportunity of saving large sums of money on travel, food and accommodation. This will promote cost efficient medical consultation", said Dissanayake.

The cross-border consultation service will be facilitated through Health Care Information Technology (HCIT) at the local Telemedicine Consultation Centre (TCC) in Colombo through which the high definition images of medical reports of X-rays, scans and E.C.G's will be accessible to medical officers in a remote location in India.

Medical information of patients are stored at a data centre in Hyderabad and the consultation is geared to offer the same care and comfort where a doctor and a patient meet in person.

Officer-In-Charge of Apollo Telemedicine Foundation Kevin Devasia said, "This technology has taken away barriers of medical impossibilities and is becoming popular among overseas patients of India. "The local TCC will co-ordinate the patient's appointment with the medical consultant and also handle the payments for consultation.

With any medical consultation, it is recommended that a second opinion is sought. This will not only avoid patients being inaccurately diagnosed, but will also ensure that they are prescribed the most appropriate treatment for their medical conditions."