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Research Outline
Prepared for Lia | Delivered July 31, 2019
Telemedicine Case Studies
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Goals
Determine telemedicine systems that have been deployed successfully in rural areas around the world. The information will be used for a telemedicine market analysis.
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Early Findings
GIFTED MOM
Gifted Mom
provides an SMS service and a mobile app to enable women in remote provincial areas in Cameroon, Africa to get
free physician consultations
.
The telemedicine service is seen to be on-track to decrease the mortality rates of women during childbirth by
70% in the year 2020
.
OM HOSPITAL AND RESEARCH CENTRE AND THE APOLLO HOSPITAL
In
Nepal
, remote rural communities that have minimal access to infrastructure have benefited from several
telemedicine services
in the area.
The main providers of telemedicine services in the rural areas are the
Om Hospital and Research Centre
in Kathmandu and the
Apollo Hospital
in New Delhi.
The hospitals are working with the
Nepal Wireless Networking Project
(NWNP) to provide the wireless-enabled audio-video medical services using "
Voice over Internet Protocol
(VoIP) technology and web cameras."
SICHUAN PROVINCE'S TELEMEDICINE SERVICES
Based on a past study of a telemedicine service in
China's Sichuan province
, the initiative was able to link around
249 hospitals in 112
rural regions with state-of-the-art urban hospitals. The service covered around
40 medical specialization
areas.
During the 12-year duration of the telemedicine initiative, around
11,897 teleconsultations
were conducted.
Furthermore,
39.8%
of the initial medical assessments were changed after the sessions. With regard to the initially-prescribed treatments, around
55%
were changed after the sessions.
The service also resulted in
$3.2 million
worth of savings for the patients and around
$3.7 million
for the physicians.
INDIA'S TELEMEDICINE INITIATIVES
In India, the primary telemedicine projects are the following:
Apollo, Otri
, and the Asia Heart Foundation.
Around
750 sessions
are being conducted each month through these initiatives.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON TELEMEDICINE SERVICES
Based on what was seen in
real-life telemedicine applications
, the majority of telemedicine initiatives are effective if these are
financially well-supported
.
This is especially true during the
initial stages
of the service.
However, once the funds are depleted, the
telemedicine service quality
starts to decline.
In China, the key telemedicine challenges encountered include clashes with
traditional medical beliefs
,
lack of economic motivators
for doctors, and the limited number of
t
e
l
e
m
e
d
i
c
i
n
e
-
t
r
a
i
n
e
d
personnel
.
In Africa, major obstacles to effective telemedicine services include the l
ack of effective telecommunication policies
, tax concerns, and highly limited communication infrastructure.
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