Through the BlackBerry PlayBook and eTraq Application, doctors can access local patient monitors connected to the hospital's central monitoring system. The monitoring system receives data from local patient monitors and can display a patient's vital information in real-time to doctors. The solution is also used by ambulance services where a patient's condition can be analyzed by the physician ahead of arrival at the emergency facility. Opto Circuits is the first Indian company to launch such a solution.

One of the world's leading networking company, Cisco, also has a telemedicine technology that allows doctor-patient consultation to take place through remote connectivity. The healthcare solution creates an environment where the patient and doctor can meet each other virtually through video conferencing, thus eliminating the need for long distance travel and expenditures associated with it.

Cisco relies heavily on its cloud technology and architecture to enable patient data recorded on site to be sent to the doctor on the remote location simultaneously with the transmission of a live video of the patient. There are eight primary tests that are done on the patient, such as recording the body temperature, blood pressure and the results are sent to the consulting doctor.

The company started its early deployments for this technology last year, with the projects being officially initiated in February 2012. The initiative has already been launched in three districts of Karnataka and four districts of Madhya Pradesh in India. Till date, over 12,000 patient consultations have been done through this solution. They were mostly in specialty areas such as gynecology, pediatrics, cardiology and internal medicine.

"No telemedicine pilots have been this successful till date in India. An unexpected surprise has been the high degree of acceptance and adaptability among the users of the technology and the patients," said Mr Aravind Sitaraman, president, inclusive growth, Cisco.