PTI

New Delhi: With a view to provide specialized health services to patients in rural areas, a two way telemedicine link between Sir Ganga Ram Hospital here and Community Health Centres at Haryana and Rajasthan was established today.

Launching the pilot project ‘Village Resource Centre´ (VRC), a link between the hospital and CHCs in Gohana, Haryana and Kaithun, Rajasthan, Union Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal said the Ministry is planning to start 15 other VRCs in different parts of northern India soon.

The project was launched simultaneously at Gohana and Kaithun by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Rajasthan Health Minister Digambar Singh via teleconferencing.

“The project aims at providing quality healthcare, early diagnosis, treatment and tertiary consultation from SGRH to medical kiosks established in village hospitals,” Sibal said.

The VRCs will also provide services like rural medical insurance, farming advise, weather updates, water management, employment generation through vocational courses and educational facilities.

“The 11th Five Year Plan already includes launching of a dedicated healthcare satellite that would revolutionize the concept of telemedicine in the country,” programme director, telemedicine at ISRO, L S Satyamurthy, said.

VRCs at both places have come up at a cost of Rs57 lakh each. The project is a public-private partnership in which Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Indian Space Research Organization and SGRH are active partners.