TELEMEDICINE FACILITY BETWEEN JIPMER AND DISTRICT HOSPITAL, LAWNGTLAI LAUNCHED

First of it’s kind in the Northeast, Telemedicine facility between Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry and District Hospital, Lawngtlai, Mizoram was launched today. Prof Dr S C Parija, Director, JIPMER unveiled the plaque in the ceremony attended by a hosts of guests.

It may be mentioned that the district Lawngtlai shares border with two countries Bangladesh and Myanmar has a population of around 1,44,000 and an area of 2600 sq. Kms and consists of heterogonous tribes like Mizo, Chakmas, Pawn, Bawm, Bru etc., The district is equipped with one District Hospital, one Community Health Centre and five PHCs. The District hospital has specialists like Medicine, Surgeon, Gynecologist, Pediatrician, and Anesthetist. The major challenges faced in health care delivery are related to accessibility and affordability of tertiary care. The Infant Mortality Rate of the district is 49.1 per 1000 live birth as of July 2017, which is above national average. The vaccination coverage is just 45% hence it is one of the district where Intensified Mission Indradanush is being implemented. The major public health issues in the district are high prevalence of cancer, HIV (2.8% among general population) and intravenous drug abuse. Further, the district being in strategic location and the complexities of the population is prone for epidemics required the help of a premier institute. The telemedicine facility will help the people of the Lawngtlai district to avail all kind of investigations, diagnosis and super speciality consultations in any kind of ailment.

Telemedicine is an upcoming field in health science arising out of the effective fusion of Medical Science with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) having enormous potential in meeting the challenges of healthcare delivery to rural and remote areas besides several other applications in education, training and management in health sector. It may be as simple as two health professionals discussing medical problems of a patient and seeking advice over a simple telephone to as complex as transmission of electronic medical records of clinical information, diagnostic tests such as E.C.G., radiological images etc. and carrying out real time interactive medical video conference with the help of IT based hardware and software, video-conference using broadband telecommunication media provided by satellite and terrestrial network.