The Government of India has issued Telemedicine Practice guidelines on 25th March, 2020 which provide a robust framework for practice of telemedicine.

(https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/Telemedicine.pdf).

These guidelines comprehensively prescribe norms and protocols covering all aspects of telemedicine practice like physician-patient relationship; issues of liability and negligence; management and treatment; informed consent; continuity of care; medical records; privacy and security of the patient records, exchange of information etc.

The guidelines also provide detailed information on technology platforms & tools to be utilized for effective health care delivery. Further, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has also developed a telemedicine application known as National Telemedicine Service, eSanjeevani to initiate OPD services free of cost to all citizens. This application works on a hub and spoke model to provide telemedicine services for citizen to doctor and doctor to doctor consultation. This application has also been integrated with 3.74 lakh Common Service Centers (CSCs) thereby facilitating access to equitable health care in the remotest areas of the country.

To ensure that only valid health professionals are able to provide services under eSanjeevani, the telemedicine practitioners are first vetted by the State Nodal Officer for eSanjeevani before being onboarded.

The Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar stated this in a written reply in the LokSabha here today.