Urmila Devi (68) was referred to Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) in Lucknow last year when Patna Medical College and Hospital doctors could not cure her oedema.

She got cured soon after, but patients like her can now expect treatment by experts in Lucknow without leaving Patna. Under a telemedicine plan, Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) is going to get linked to SGPGI, Lucknow, allowing patients to tap experts' service available at the super-speciality hospital in Uttar Pradesh. Telemedicine is the use of telecommunication and information technology to provide clinical health care at a distance.

Principal secretary, health, Brajesh Mehrotra confirmed the development.

"We received a letter from the ministry of health and family welfare, earlier this month, informing us about the telemedicine related project. SGPGI, Lucknow is going to be made the nodal centre and both IGIMS and Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) would be connected. The development assumes significance because this would help doctors at IGIMS and DMCH take live consultation from experts at SGPGI, Lucknow if they come across a critical case requiring expert opinion. Besides, IGIMS and DMCH students would also be able to attend virtual classes and listen to lectures by SGPGI doctors at the click of a mouse."

Under the Union ministry of health and family welfare's e-health project, government medical colleges and hospitals across the country would be connected to super-speciality hospitals like SGPGI Lucknow, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Pondicherry and Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, among others.

While IGIMS would get connected to SGPGI, Lucknow sooner, DMCH would be connected at a later phase.

Sources said the development assumes significance because none of the hospitals in Bihar have super-speciality departments.

As a result, people in need of advanced surgery and treatment have to visit cities where the facility is available.

IGIMS itself had referred over 70 organ transplant cases to SGPGI, Lucknow, in the past year, the hospital's medical superintendent, S.K. Shahi, confirmed.

Sources said IGIMS still does not have super-speciality departments like immunology (to treat auto-immune diseases), neuro-ophthalmology (to treat eye-related disorders caused by nerve problems) and Systemetic Lupus Erythematotus department among others. Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), too, does not boast of these super-speciality departments.