Tele-ICU now a reality in India
Indian medical practices are set to experience a
sea of change. Even as the concept of tele-medicine or clinical care through
technology is yet to find ground in India, medical experts Friday announced the
launch of a tele-intensive care unit (ICU) for management of critically ill
patients in small towns. The project ‘CritiNext’, a collaborative venture of
Fortis group and GE health care, promises to take intensive care into digital
age by providing 24X7 medical care to patients through internet-based
communication. The system is first of its kind in the country.
The tele-ICU system involves remote ICU
monitoring technology with experts who help reduce medical errors by guiding
hospitals with shortage of critical care experts. The experts at the command
centre also access the diagnostics reports other than communicating with the
doctors. ”It is a pay-per-use system where GE health care will help us with
technology and Fortis group will support manpower needs,” Varma added.
“Tele-ICU would connect a command centre in a
super speciality hospital to a district hospital of a local hospital. The super
speciality hospital and experts there will provide advanced consultation, care
and monitoring to local hospital’s critically ill patients without having
physically transferring them anywhere,” said Amit Varma, executive director of
CritiNext, Fortis group.
The system is currently operational in
Chattisgarh’s Raipur and Uttarakhand’s Dehradun. According to the management,
two more hospitals in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh are expected to be operational
by this year’s end.
10.07.2012
Complex heart surgeries made safer
People who suffer from heart diseases
along with other health issues — like high blood pressure and diabetes
— are often scared of the complexity involved in their treatment.
Heart
surgeon Dr Pavan Kumar suggests safety methods that can reduce the risk
If
you are from the increasing group of heart disease patients who is also living
with another health condition, you're probably aware that a bypass operation is
complicated. However, the use of beating heart surgery, MECC or a centrifugal
pump device and fast track anaesthesia can make heart
surgery
safe, says Dr Pavan Kumar, consultant cardiovascular surgeon at Dr Balabhai
Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai.
We
acquaint you with some of the conditions that make heart surgery complex, and
safety methods that can be adopted by your surgeon.
High BP and diabetes: These are
commonly associated in heart patients. Problems due to hypertension, smoking, tobacco use,
alcohol use, high
cholesterol,
lack of exercise and unhealthy diet increase the risk of heart diseases. They
could cause severe damage to the arteries all over the body. Under such
circumstances, specialists recommend strict control of blood pressure and
keeping your blood sugar in check.
Reduction in pumping capacity of
the heart: If
the heart has sustained several attacks directly or indirectly, and its pumping
capacity has been reduced to 25 per cent or less, a bypass operation becomes
complicated. Under such circumstances, the presence of an experienced surgeon
is a guarantee of success. The use of heart support devices, IABP (intra-aortic
balloon pump) and CABG (coronary artery bypass graft) surgery is used.
Kidney failure and brain stroke: Patients of
chronic renal failure or those on dialysis or having paralytic stroke are at serious
risk during heart surgery; mortality is around 5-10 per cent. They require
special attention during operation as the kidney may stop working or the brain
could have another stroke. Portable dialysis machines are available today that
reduce kidney-related complications. Similarly, brain protection medicines and
the latest anaesthesia machines, which measure the depth of anaesthesia, are
proving helpful.
10.07.2012
The
wise don't expect to find life worth living; they make it that way
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