Telemedicine (T M) is a recent application of the satellite communications that makes specialised medical facility available to the remote areas of the country. The expert consultancy could be obtained for the patients in remote areas from specialists in speciality hospitals in cities.

Starting with Karnataka and North East Region (NER) Network total operational nodes are 27 nodes (17 patient + 10 super specialist nodes) in early 2001. Telemedicine networks are operational for Karnataka/ North East Region, Andaman and Nocobar, Ladakh, Kerala and Lakshadweep. The networks for NER, Orissa and Jammu & Kashmir are under implementation. The states like Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, are under consideration. Separate network for NER is being established by North East Council (NEC) through the Planning Commission. As a next phase, the ISRO level committee is finalising the standardisation of TM – Hardware and Software aspects. The mobile Telemedicine van is under procurement for Telemedicine connectivity of Shankar Netralaya, Chennai. The connectivity is established through INSAT satellite and Spacenet hub of ISRO.

ISRO has identified “Health Communication Support Network” as an important activity. In this connection, the types of services which are planned to be initiated are Tele-medical-education, Tele-consultation, Tele-referral and Tele-health.