Hyderabad, November 7, 2022: Telemedicine Society of India (TSI) and its Kerala Chapter hosts Telemedicon 2022, the eighteenth edition of the International Telemedicine Conference, at Amrita Hospital, Kochi, from November 10 to 12, 2022.
On the inaugural day, Mr. S. Somanath, Chairman, ISRO, will be the Chief Guest. He will deliberate on how the latest technologies improve telemedicine facilities in our country. Mr. Mohanan Kunnummal, Vice Chancellor, Kerala University of Health Science, and Dr. Rethan Kelkar, IT Secretary of Kerala, will attend the event.
TELEMEDICON 2022 is an annual global conference for healthcare professionals, providers, health insurance providers, online pharmacy chains, industrialists, academic scientists, research scholars and scientists, medical and engineering stakeholders from various fields of telemedicine, telehealth, e-health, m-health, and digital health across the world meet. The conference is held in collaboration with government agencies, private organizations, and national and international professional societies.
The core theme of the event ′Strengthening Health Systems Through Sustainable Telemedicine and Digital Health’ puts forward a platform to pool ideas to spearhead the growth of telemedicine in the right direction, as the future of both telemedicine and the front runners of telemedicine holds immense potential. It aims to build platforms involving healthcare regulators, health funding authorities, service providers, and international experts. The dignitaries will explore emerging telehealth models, breakthrough technologies, examine new telehealth models, and entrepreneurship. The conference will also highlight the socioeconomic impact of telehealth on healthcare access and equity.
The event’s highlights include scientific sessions on topics like Space Telemedicine Programs, Telehealth tourism, AI-based telehealth systems, Tele homecare, IOMT, AR, and VR. The event will also hold a session to discuss Legal practices on Telemedicine lead by Justice Devan Ramachandran.
Dr. Prem Nair, Group Medical Director, Amrita Hospitals, is the Chairman of the Telemedicon 2022. He is also the President of the TSI Kerela Chapter.
Addressing the press, Dr. Prem Nair said that there had been a ten-fold increase in the number of patients using telemedicine. More and more patients are relying on the telemedicine system since Covid. The conference will discuss popularizing the telemedicine facility using advanced technologies. The telemedicine system will enable and help patients to get treatment in the most convenient manner by making hospital visits only in emergency situations.
The event will give a unique opportunity to explore how telehealth is evolving globally – regarding regulation, business models, and improving healthcare outcomes. Covid showed the increased need for facilities like telemedicine, teleconsultation, and similar facilities. And it makes this year’s conference even more relevant, he added .
Mr. M.G. Bijoy, Organizing Secretary, Telemedicon 2022 and Secretary TSI Kerala said that the main obstacle to the full implementation of telemedicine in rural areas is the inadequacy of the network system and 5G services. ISRO’s latest technology will help in overcoming this crisis. Telemedicine services will not be complex in the coming days as more than 80 percent of the population has smartphones. This year Telemedicon event is hosted by the Kerala chapter of the Telemedicine Society of India, at Amrita Hospital, Kochi and that signifies the role Kerala has in all these aspects.
AMRITA HOSPITAL, KOCHI (www.amritahospitals.org)
Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (Amrita Hospital), based in Kochi, is one of the premier hospitals in South Asia. Founded in 1998 by Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (known worldwide as Amma), it offers a full range of primary and speciality-care medical services. Amma’s vision of providing advanced medical care to the poor and disadvantaged was the inspiration for Amrita Hospital, which today is a 1,300-bed (490 units) tertiary referral and teaching hospital, serving more than 8 lakh outpatients and more than 50,000 inpatients annually.
The massive healthcare infrastructure with over 3.33 million sq.ft. of built-up area, spread over 125 acres of land, supports a daily patient volume of approximately 3,500 outpatients with 95 percent inpatient occupancy. There are 12 super-speciality departments, 45 other departments, 4,500 support staff and 670 faculty members. The hospital’s extensive infrastructure offers facilities comprising 28 modern operating theatres, 275 equipped intensive-care beds, a fully computerised and networked Hospital
Information System (HIS), a fully digital radiology department, 17 NABL accredited clinical laboratories and 24/7 telemedicine service.
In 2015, South Asia’s first-ever Bilateral Hand Transplant Surgery was done at Amrita Hospital. The same year, Amrita Hospital won the British Medical Journal Award for the Best Surgical Team in South Asia. The Amrita team won the award for its two successful double hand transplants, the first and the second bilateral hand transplants in this region.