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Google Cloud and eGovernments Foundation are chipping in expertise to propel the setting up of tele-ICU hospital in Karnataka. The first tele-ICU hub at KR Hospital Mysuru of a 10-bed facility is a hub-and-spoke model where specialists from medical colleges manage the operations. It is connected to the peripheral taluka government hospitals in Nanjangud, HD Kote, Santhemarahalli, Malavalli and Virajpet.
In Karnataka, the 10-bed ICU programme will cover 41 taluka hospitals with upto two hospitals in each of the 30 districts.
Technology provides the backbone of the 10-bedded ICU programme. Patient care at each 10-bed facility is made possible by eGovernments Foundation's 'CARE' platform, which is a cloud-based open source patient management tool, as well as a smart capacity management software and patient management software, according to Bikram Singh Bedi, chairman, 10BedICU Project and managing trustee, eGovernments Foundation.
The tele-ICU module which runs on Google Cloud's infrastructure and can be accessed in real-time by medical professionals at the K R Hospital and the connected spoke hospitals. It is also equipped with large 4K or horizontal resolutions of around 4,000 pixel monitors and desktops while the peripheral 10- bed ICUs are equipped with desktops, server, high-resolution cameras and medical devices connected via LAN, he added.
"At Google Cloud, we believe that cloud technology can play a significant role in advancing patient care and healthcare outcomes," said Bedi.
Srikanth Nadhamuni,CEO, Khosla Labs said, "We launched a hub in Manipur with Google Cloud earlier this year and are now launching our first hub in Karnataka. The powerful TeleICU concept was first piloted in Mysuru at K R Hospital connecting five taluka hospitals and its immediate success encouraged us to take the model across many states nationally.”
The state which has built a solid foundation in healthcare is looking to spring ahead by paving the way to lure potential investment opportunities in medical technology. The state, which is the hot bed of information technology, needs to now focus on the digital health innovation which are lucrative areas of growth.
According to the Karnataka health and family welfare minister Dr K Sudhakar, there is a need for participatory healthcare efforts to develop algorithms and data analytics to keep tabs of population health. In fact, the state has already set an example to set up telemedicine units and tele-ICU facilities because the challenge was to enable patients in remote areas to have access to high quality medical attention of the cities.
We need both speed and size to act during a health emergency. There is need to augment infrastructure, and medical equipment. Karnataka hired 15,000 qualified medical professionals to offset the shortfall of workforce during the Covid phase. Now plans are underway to augment medical care facilities across 5 of the 30 districts for trauma and intensive care, said the Karnataka health minister.
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