Transforming rural healthcare with telemedicine

Intelehealth’s open-source telemedicine platform connects rural patients with urban doctors through virtual teleconsultations in low bandwidth environments. These consultations can be unfiltered or facilitated by local frontline health workers – nurses based in clinics and health centres, as well as community health workers in the patients’ villages. They are in turn equipped with a “smart digital assistant” integrated into their mobile phones providing diagnostic and treatment support on the base of over 150 evidence-based protocols. The doctors and health workers are screened, trained and supervised.

By combining community care with reliable access to specialist doctors, Intelehealth provides end-to-end telemedicine that is quality care, no matter how remote the setting: 70% of the primary care conditions of people living in rural areas can be addressed by health workers using Intelehealth’s tools.

In India, where a flagship national teleconsultation service already exists (eSanjeevani), Intelehealth is providing support to help ensure its successful implementation, increasing the platform’s adoption by rural populations and health providers. Intelehealth smart digital assistant has also been integrated into the national application, enabling teleconsultations, accurate diagnoses and treatment plans across the country.

In Kyrgyzstan, the organisation is working with the government to launch its software nationwide and improve access to healthcare for hard-to-reach populations, targeting children with disabilities in particular.