Teleradiology Solutions and GE Healthcare join hands

Teleradiology Solutions and Wipro GE Healthcare today announced a partnership that combines GE Healthcare’s medical technology leadership and wide reach across the country with Teleradiology’s proprietary Radiology Workflow Solution – RadSpa to make Remote Radiology Reporting Services available to healthcare providers across India, especially in Tier 2 and beyond markets.

The partnership will provide 365/24/7 Remote Radiology Reporting Services to Public and Private Healthcare customers of GE by using highly sophisticated & cutting edge encryption technology and backed by a team of over 50 radiologists across multiple centers in India. Customers of GE will have an option to opt for Teleradiology services depending on their need for skilled radiology resources.

Speaking on the partnership, Milan Rao, President and CEO, GE Healthcare, India and South Asia said, “Shortage of qualified medical professionals, including radiologists is emerging as one of the biggest impediment to growth and access to quality healthcare in India”. “In healthcare, solutions don’t come in boxes. We need skilled people who can use equipments well and interpret reports coming from them for effective clinical outcomes. The partnership with Teleradiology Solutions is one way to address this skill gap that we face today by making high-quality remote radiology reporting services available to our customers. It will further drive access and availability of high-end medical technologies to far corners of the country and deliver positive health outcomes.”

Dr. Arjun Kalyanpur, Founder CEO and Chief Radiologist Teleradiology Solutions, said “As most of the radiologists in India are based in metros and urban centers, remote parts of the country are greatly in need of specialist radiologist reporting services. Our Teleradiology platform, RadSpa is built on the premise that a radiologist can be accessed from anywhere in the world and does not have to be physically present in the geographies to serve them. Once the image acquisition is done by a trained technologist on site, one of our team of experienced and specialized radiologists based out of one of our many locations will provide interpretation and reporting in real time, thereby contributing to early diagnosis, optimized treatment and better patient outcomes. We are delighted to be partnering with GE Healthcare with whom we share a mutual goal of delivering quality healthcare to remote parts of India”.

How does this technology work?

RadSpa® is an intelligent radiology workflow platform enabling integrated image management through centralized scheduling to multiple devices, sites or centers, and an Active Push feature for faster downloads at peak load and low bandwidths.

A Unique – easy configuration at the customer’s Medical Device or PACS enables the device and or the application to communicate with RadSpa® allowing image and data exchange with the reporting radiologist at the Teleradiology center. Images are received at the reporting center within minutes from the time of upload at the location and the reporting turnaround time ranges from 60 minutes to 24 hours typically based on the service level agreement. Voice dictation and recording is also provided for speedy reporting.

Shortage in availability of Radiologist and radiology technicians

Early diagnosis of diseases is directly proportional to the availability of quality medical devices and specialists such as radiologist who can read and interpret it. The healthcare landscape in India is heavily skewed – while 70% of the Indian population lives in semi-urban and rural areas, 80% of the healthcare infrastructure is available in urban areas. The ratio between the radiologists to people in India is about 1:120,000 which is extremely low as compared to the western world¹. Disruptive digital technologies could transform the delivery of healthcare in India through remote health services and digitally enabled healthcare professionals who can tap expert systems to conduct diagnosis via the internet. Teleradiology’s RadSpa is one such solution that addresses the radiology skill gap existing today.

For remote radiology reporting services to be successful, availability of a skilled radiology technician at the site is equally important. They play a critical role in patient scanning, image generation and processing and equipment maintenance among others.  According to a study by PHFI, the total healthcare skill gap in India is about 97.9% across various health workforce categories and Radiography and Imaging alone accounts for 88.7% of this gap, indicating a huge shortage of medical technicians². To address this gap, GE Healthcare Education Institute conducts various skilling programs for radiology technicians that helps them upgrade their skills to meet the evolving healthcare demands. Teleradiology Solutions also provides skilling support to customers who avail their solution, ensuring the radiology technician can conduct scans in a manner that facilitates best possible remote reporting by radiologists.  Its radiology education platform RADGURU ® provides training to professional Radiologists as well as postgraduate students in Radiology with a tie up with the National board in New Delhi