Space Hospitals ties up with US hospitals

Space Hospitals, a service provider in the field of telemedicine, has announced the launch of their international teleconsultation with US-based hospitals and doctors.

Addressing a press conference, Padmanabhan, chief operating officer, Space Hospital said, "With the tie-up with the US hospitals, patients will be brought into direct contact with experts in the fields concerned through the help of their physicians."

Thus, a patient in a remote area can avail of better treatment without undergoing the trauma of travel, time and risk his life, he added. However, Space Hospitals declined to mention the names of the hospitals it will be tying up with.

He also said that although now they were concentrating on the fields of oncology and cardiology, their service will soon extend to other branches of medicine too.

The Space Telemedicine Network links various hospitals using information and communication technology wherein only the data of the patient are moved, not the patient. Space Hospitals claims that the time lag will be less than three milliseconds.

The telemedicine network has a hub that stores the entire data of patients and doctors. The hub and hospitals are connected through optical fibre cable with lines leased from telecom companies.

"The hub is implemented to cater to 200 Satellite Medical Centers (SMCs). At present, four associate hospitals, seven SMCs and 11 centres are part of our network," said G Ravichanderan, chief executive officer, Space Hospitals.

SMCs are the clinics at smaller towns and associate hospitals are the specialty hospitals in metropolitan cities. He asserted that this facility can be made use of by pharmaceutical companies to market their new drugs and medicos can enhance their knowledge also.

Space hospitals intends to link 25 South Indian hospitals to its network by next month. By March 2006, it plans to expand its network with the linking of 20 associate hospitals and 200 SMCs.