This Mercury won’t raise your BP

Usually, a patient’s record is available in hard copy, like papers, celluloid films, electro-cardiogram (ECG) strips etc. C-DAC’s Mercury solution allows the doctor to quickly put these together into the patient’s electronic medical record (EMR) and classify them. ‘‘Once the EMR is consolidated, the physician can quickly navigate through it,’’ says Coordinator of Medical Informatics at C-DAC Devashish Pandya.

The benefits of the telemedicine solution are manifold, adds Pandya, giving an example of a ‘‘typical’’ telemedicine interaction. ‘‘A patient at a remote place goes to a doctor who, after examination, feels the need for a second opinion. The doctor consolidates the relevant clinical data into the patient’s EMR and seeks the opinion of a specialist using teleconsultation.”

A Rs 2-crore telemedicine project—to be jointly funded by the Centre and the Kerala government—is set to take off in the current financial year, Director of Kerala State Health Services Dr V.K. Rajan said. ‘‘We have identified five institutions for Phase I of the project. Another 20 are to be covered in Phase II,’’ he adds. Pointing out that the telemedicine package is working well at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, Rajan adds that the directorate is waiting for financial allocation from the Centre to expand it.