Over 400 million people all over the world lack access to basic healthcare services. The reality for people living in rural areas for most of the developing world is that there is no doctor nearby. As a result, they have to travel long distances and spend considerable time and money in order to get to the nearest clinic. With the increasing availability of mobile networks and mobile internet even in rural areas we now have new opportunities to provide healthcare.
Telemedicine provides an opportunity by connecting doctors in urban areas to patients in rural areas to provide healthcare. But health organizations that want to set up telemedicine programs do not have a lot of technology options to choose from. A robust software platform is the backbone of a good telemedicine program. The platform needs to be low cost, work even over an unreliable low bandwidth data connection and needs to be appropriately designed for health workers or nurses who may have never used a smartphone before.
Intelehealth is an open source telemedicine platform that empowers local community health workers (CHWs) in rural communities to facilitate tele-consultations with remote doctors. It enables them to gather high quality clinical history and conduct clinically-relevant physical exams. Intelehealth can be used by hospitals, community health programs & governments to expand the reach of health services to ensure that vital primary care reaches remote and rural populations.