INCREASING THE AVAILABILITY AND AFFORDABILITY OF TELEMEDICINE FACILITY IN THE TIMES OF PANDEMIC - CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES

For more than 30 years, clinicians, physicians, healthcare officials and others have been investigating the use of advanced telecommunication and other technologies to make changes or improvements in the health care systems. The collective efforts of the team lie in the development and the use of telemedicine further penetrating it in the villages as well. Telemedicine is the electronic information and communication technologies to provide and support the health care systems when the distance acts as a barrier between the patients and the healthcare officials. It is a socially accepted, feasible and cost-saving technology that can further act as the cheapest way to bridge the urban-rural divide in access to health care in India. Moreover, it can help attract and retain the health professionals in the rural areas by providing proper training and collaboration with the other healthcare officials. The study explains the ways for increasing the availability, affordability, and accessibility of the telemedicine facility in the times of the COVID-19 pandemic not only among urban population but among the rural population as well.