Telemedicine standards: need and Indian initiatives

Telemedicine has special significance to India considering its vast geographical spread and predominant rural population. Adoption of health information technology has been one of the major options for more efficient delivery of healthcare for rural and geographically distant populations spread across India. With an expanding application of telemedicine, the policy makers in India feel that a recommended set of standards and guidelines for telemedicine needs to be set in place and constantly refined to promote the integrated growth of telemedicine in the country. The present article outlines the initiative and the current status of the standardization effort in India.