IIT Kharagpur launches telemedicine software

With the Covid-19 pandemic still raging, IIT Kharagpur on Friday launched a telemedicine software which facilitates critical health care support to patients at their doorsteps through remote consultation by a physician.

The system iMediX which is accessible by any standard internet browser and also from a mobile device, has been developed by researchers at IIT Kharagpurs Department of Computer Science and Engineering, an institute spokesperson said.

In this system, a patient signs up to get an account by providing his/her Email ID or mobile number.

Then the patient can make a request for consultation by choosing a department of the hospital, entering his/her chief complaints and uploading necessary scanned medical records.

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The hospital administration processes the request and assigns a doctor.

The doctor after logging in sets an appointment date and time for the patient and the system communicates the information to the patient by mail and SMS.

On the day of visit, the doctor consults the patient using video conferencing and advises him/her by writing a prescription, which is sent by mail to the patient. The patient can also download the prescription from her account.

Prof Jayanta Mukhopadhyay, the lead researcher said, "As the number of cases of home isolation and home quarantine are increasing, the system will cater to the needs of the present situation. It would be useful also to follow up and treat aged patients."

iMedX is being adopted for public use right at its home, IIT Kharagpur on-campus healthcare system, he said.

Director of IIT Kharagpur, Prof V K Tewari said "In April we had announced eight R&D projects for providing COVID healthcare services. This telemedicine project was key among these especially keeping in mind its effectiveness in our own community.

"When our campus will start operating in full strength close to 30,000 people including students would be in need of healthcare services and this technology will reduce over- exposure of the healthcare staff while efficiently catering to the population. While we are promoting physical distancing, it seems only appropriate to introduce this digital platform to meet the healthcare needs of the campus community effectively."

The institute is creating user accounts for its medical cardholders who can avail the consultation facility home through video conferencing.

The software, launched on October 2 on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, will be integrated at the Dr B C Roy Technology Hospital of the institute which provides emergency healthcare services for the campus residents and employees, confirmed the office of Principal Medical Officer Dr Samir Dasgupta.

The researchers are already in touch with healthcare MSMEs for commercialisation of the copyright version of the technology, Tewari said.