Abstract
Telemedicine is the delivery of health care services using information or communication technology. In the current pandemic scenario, telemedicine can supplement health-care delivery in the absence of in-person visit. The Government of India has recently launched the e-sanjeevani OPD, a National teleconsultation service, which has been adopted by many state governments as mandatory for health-care providers. With Indian Medical Association issuing an advisory against the use of telemedicine except in few situations, a lot of confusion exists in the mind of a pediatrician. Despite the uncertain situation, we have to remember that other diseases shall not stall in the face of a pandemic. Since telemedicine is an evolving subject, training of medical professionals, clear guidelines and good quality internet service systems will go a long way in increasing the acceptability of telemedicine in the Indian population. We herein discuss issues related to using telemedicine during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Keesara, S, Jonas A, Schulman K. Covid-19 and health care’s digital revolution. N Engl J Med. 2020;382:e82. Accessed April 10, 2020.
Board of Governors. Telemedicine Practice Guidelines Enabling Registered Medical Practitioners to Provide Healthcare Using Telemedicine. Available from: https://www.Mohfw.gov.in/pdf/telemedicine. Accessed April 5, 2020.
Burke B, Hall R. Telemedicine: Pediatric applications. Pediatrics. 2015;136:e293–e308
Aggarwal KK. Prescription sans diagnosis: A case of culpable neglect. India Legal. Available from: https://www.indialegallive.com-ConstitutionalNews-Courts. Accessed April 8, 2020.
Lakhe A, Sodhi I, Warrier J, Sinha V. Development of digital stethoscope for telemedicine. J Med Eng Technol. 2016;40:20–24.
Arumugham S, Rajagopalan S, Rayappan JBB, Amirtharajan R. Networked medical data sharing on secure medium — A web publishing mode for DICOM viewer with three layer authentication. J Biomed Inform. 2018;86:90–105.
Luz PLD. Telemedicine and the doctor/patient relationship. Arq Bras Cardiol. 2019;113:100–2.
Village Resource Centre — ISRO [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https://www.isro.gov.in/applications/village-resource-centre. Accessed April 18, 2020.
Kittleson MM. The invisible hand — medical care during the pandemic. N Engl J Med. 2020;382:1586–87.
Funding
Funding: None
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Contributors: VM: conceived the idea, is providing telemedicine services, wrote the 1st draft, and approved the final manuscript; TS: literature search, assisted in writing the first draft and approved the final manuscript; CA: edited the manuscript, and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interest: None stated.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mahajan, V., Singh, T. & Azad, C. Using Telemedicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Indian Pediatr 57, 658–661 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13312-020-1895-6
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13312-020-1895-6