ICT, e-Health & Managing Healthcare - Exploring the Issues & Challenges in Indian Railway Medical Services

This paper attempts to detail the evolution of a system synergy for more than 3 decades where the health services researchers; clinicians and others have been investigating the use of advanced information and communications technologies (ICT) to improve Indian health care. At the core of all these efforts lies a successful system synergy or a marriage between medicine and ICT and combination of innovative and mainstream technologies. The system is being developed in the context of the medical standards and practices in India, addressing issues, challenges and problems specific to Indian health care scenario where its 1 billion populations are predominantly rural and distributed in distant geographical locations. The health and medical facilities presently available in the non-urban parts of the country is inadequate and there are wide disparities in terms of health care infrastructure, facility, manpower and funds between rural and urban communities, and between different states and even districts within states. This calls for innovative methods of utilization of science and technology for the benefit of our society and ICT and medicine assumes a greater significance to revolutionise the health care system in India.