On Saturday, July 8, Goa came on the map of the ‘Telemedicine Society of India’, as the organization’s youngest state chapter. The Telemedicine Society of India is over a 20-year-old organization, making telehealth the new normal for affordable access to best-in-class universal healthcare, in a connected and comprehensive healthcare ecosystem, linking even the most remote rural populations to district, state, national, and international centres of excellence.
The organization fostered a partnership with the government to bring in the telemedicine practice guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic, to help the majority of the population to get access to healthcare providers, in a regulated and legal manner, and train doctors to practice telemedicine in a safe manner; taking consent and prescribing medicines with the objective to promote and encourage development, advancement, and research in the science of telemedicine, and the associated fields.
It inaugurated the Goa chapter in the presence of the executive committee of the Telemedicine Society of India (TSI), and Dr Meenu Singh, President of TSI, and Director AIIMS, Hrishikesh. Dr Suyog Samuel has been appointed the President of the TSI Goa chapter, along with Dr Devdutt M Sail, as its secretary, and Dr Babita Angle Prabhudesai, as its treasurer.
All the founder members of this chapter introduced themselves, and were inducted as the life members of TSI, at a function in Park Regis, Arpora.
Dr Paresh Kamat, Dr Shubha Bobilli, Dr Swati Pai, Mr. Michael Fernandes, Mr. Chinmay Kantak, Dr Anushri Mukhopadhyay, Lt. Col. Dr Parag Prabhudesi, Mr Sagar Utargi, Dr Shekhar Salkar, Dr Kedarnath Padte, Dr Keith Fernandes, Dr Richard Fernandes, Dr Akshata Kotharkar, Dr Vibhav Verlekar, Dr Swarna Pathak, Dr Mameed Merchant, Dr Mohamed Mazar Shaikh, and Dr Gaurish Saralkar, among others, were inducted to take the movement of digital healthcare for one and all in Goa.
Speaking with GoaChronicle, TSI Goa chapter President, Dr Suyog Samuel, said, ‘The TSI is already functioning in all the other states, and as many people think, telemedicine is not only teleconsultation, but is to make healthcare more accessible to rural areas, where it is not served until now. This will definitely require infrastructure, which will happen slowly, with time, like data-analysis, app and tool development, learning innovation, etc.’
‘TSI welcomes not only doctors, but IT professionals, bio-engineers, biotech professionals, and every branch of the profession is welcome here, so that a mixture of people who are interested in emerging tech, can be created, to develop new and good ideas.’, Dr Samuel further explained.
He also stated, ‘We are fortunate and excited that not only the TSI is in Goa now, but that the 19th telemedicine conference, Telemedicon, will be held in November, 2023, in Goa itself, wherein emerging technologies like AI, blockchain, and network sequencing will be discussed by national and international speakers, to expand the image and knowledge of the field.’
