An ambitious telemedicine system to connect through satellite doctors of some of the best hospitals across the country with patients in Jharkhand has been mooted.

The Jharkhand Space Application Centre (JSAC) of the Information Technology department has proposed the telemedicine system to help poor people avail of diagnostic facilities from good hospitals.

The Rs.130 million ($2.9 million) project will be launched with the help of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Bangalore-based ISRO will provide satellite connectivity infrastructure to JSCA, like bandwidth and VSAT facilities and hardware.

"Under the telemedicine system, villagers will get the advice of doctors of renowned hospitals without having to shift to any place," said an official of the IT department. It would benefit the state's 54 percent population living below the poverty line (BPL). The state has a population of 26.91 million.

"Doctors within and outside the state will be made available to rural people through mobile vans. It will cover the remotest areas of the state," said R.S Sharma, IT secretary of Jharkhand.

The project will be a joint venture of the IT and health and family welfare departments of the state with the expense being shared between them.

The project has been designed covering three phases. In the first phase, seven district hospitals, one mobile van and two medical college hospitals would be connected through e-health of the IT department.

In the second phase, eight district hospitals and one mobile van would be added, while in the third phase seven district hospitals, one medical hospital and one mobile van would be connected.

All the 22 district hospitals, three medical hospitals and three mobile vans would be connected with master control facility located at the state capital Ranchi.

A specialised centre would come up in every district hospital with facilities like video conferencing, telemedicine software and hardware, communication system, diagnostic equipment and medical equipment.

The mobile vans would also have video conferencing facilities.

As part of its efforts to promote IT in the state, the government has drafted an IT policy and is planning e-commerce of tribal crafts.

The Software Technology Park has started working in Namkom at Ranchi and the government plans to set up a multimedia corridor in Bokaro. All the departmental secretaries, district officials and the chief minister's residence have been connected through video conferencing.