Introduction - ECG Acquisition and Automated Remote Processing - page 13

hospital authority did not allow him to remove the patients to his laboratory to test
his new device. In India, one of the successful implementations of telecardiology
systems was established in Gwalior, India, in 1975 at GR Medical College using
an indigenous technique. This system enabled wireless transmission of ECG, using
frequency modulation, from the moving ICU van or the patient's home to the
central station in ICU of the department of medicine. The ECG output was con-
nected to the telephone input using a modulator, which converted ECG into high-
frequency sound. At the other end, a demodulator reconverted the sound into ECG
with good gain accuracy. The ECG was converted to sound waves with a fre-
quency varying from 500 to 2,500 Hz with 1,500 Hz at baseline [ 24 ]. An advanced
system using Internet and database management software developed for telecar-
diology application for offline analysis by experts is reported [ 25 ]. Most of the
current practices of telecardiology in Indian health services use either PSTN lines
or satellite communication to transfer the compressed ECG files to the referral
centers, where the specialists visually examine the ECG records and provide the
diagnosis (and the therapy in some occasions) directly (real-time teleconsultation)
or by messages (store and forward) to the district hospital.

1.8 Conclusion

Telemedicine assumes special significance in developing nations where the doctor-
to-patient ratio is very low. In most of the developing nations, telemedicine
practices connect a remote health-care unit to a city-based hospital for real-time
teleconsultation, supported by teletransmission of patient's pathological informa-
tion through dedicated communication links. The development of telemedicine
sounds promising to deliver health-care services. Many new initiatives are being
observed which uses indigenous techniques toward this effort. Adaptation with
new technologies, introduction of user-friendly gadgets, and improved health-care
infrastructure

can provide a great impetus to telemedicine to serve general

population.

Acknowledgments Paper 3 is the contribution from Biomedical Signal acquisition and Pro-
cessing Research Group at Department of Applied Physics, University of Calcutta, India.

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