In yet another feat to take world class healthcare in India, Apollo Hospitals today launched a superior remote consulting and diagnostic -Teleradiology services at its Flagship Hospital in Chennai. Inaugurated by Dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam, honourable former President of India. This technology intervention will help patients and diagnostic centres in remote locations to access expert radiologist with their radiology images for expert opinion and get appropriate treatment recommendations. The service will play a very vital role in reducing patient waiting time for diagnosis, treatment commencement and cost.
Teleradiology is an emerging field that has the potential to benefit both patients and healthcare service providers immensely as it helps eliminate distance barriers and improve access to quality health services or information that otherwise are not available in rural and distant communities.
They play an invaluable role in emergency and critical care situations especially where moving a patient may be undesirable or not feasible. Not only does this technology lessen the inconvenience and cost of patient transfers but will also help reduce unnecessary travel time for health professionals to multiplex their services beyond boundaries where by improve efficiency and to reduce cost.
"Since three decades we have been innovating on our facilities and introducing new technologies to better healthcare reach and administration. Teleradiology as a technology can transform rural healthcare delivery by empowering both patients and doctors alike. While rural practitioners can gain access to specialist health services and benefit from interactions with consultants and specialists, patients can receive health information and advice from health professionals from the convenience of their homes." said Dr Prathap C Reddy, chairman, Apollo hospitals Group.
Without rapid access to medical imaging results, diagnosis and treatment delays would be the norm of the day and the cost of care would be even greater. The advantage of having a Teleradiology group is that it can provide a team of specialized teleradiologists for patients, and moreover, emergency services are also provided effectively, bringing down the waiting time for patients.
The Teleradiology group has several specialties and sub-specialties available such as Neuroradiologists, Musculoskeletal radiologists, Abdomen and Pelvic imaging specialists, Woman's imaging specialists and Cardiac radiologists. When the scans are sent to the group, the group assigns the reporting to the specialists, thereby the hospital treating the patient gets the best specialist report in that particular speciality.
