Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday launched SEHAT, a healthcare initiative to boost telemedicine in rural parts of India.
Under the initiative, 6,000 common service centres (CSC) across the country will be connected through a common information technology network that will help people avail information about healthcare.
There will be around 2,50,000 access points for delivery of various Government to citizen ( G2C ) services. The citizen can avail all the facilities near to the place of residence and need not frequent the Government offices.
He said the CSC will also become a “change agent” for enabling the family member to learn computer skills and undergo vocational training resulting in digital empowerment and enhancement of family income. CSCs’ are well placed to play a significant role in the emerging field of e-commerce and enable people especially the rural artisan and farmers to sell their goods and services across the country and the world.
“The government is working to develop the rural community both socially and economically so as to build an inclusive and enlightened India,” Prasad said during the launch.
“With the availability of tele-consultation, the government can redefine the extension of affordable and quality healthcare to citizens, especially in rural India. I hope this will become a game-changer not only for India but also exemplary for other countries across the globe,” he said.
CSC has been delivering tele-consultation services with support from Apollo and Medanta in some areas and now with this initiative the tele consultation services are being extended to 60,000 CSCs across the country.
Image caption:
The Union Minister for Communications & Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad launching the Telemedicine services at Common Service Centres in collaboration with the Apollo Hospitals, at a function, in New Delhi on August 25, 2015. The Telecom Secretary, Rakesh Garg, the Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group, Prathap C Reddy and other dignitaries are also seen.