While the argument persists that doctors are increasingly getting wrongly accused which results in them getting entrenched in legal cases, a tele-evidence service that helps doctors give opinion to courts without appearing in person bring some relief to the doctors.

One of the major issues that doctors across the country face is that they are over-worked. And it’s from their busy schedule that they are asked to take time off to appear in person before courts. This scenario must change and the tele-evidence service which has been introduced in a couple of hospitals could be the way ahead in relieving doctors from stress-to a certain extent, at least.

Doctors can give findings via real time video conferencing

The news came out recently that a tele-evidence service was introduced in the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate medical education and research(Jipmer) in Puducherry. With this service, doctors can now attend a court case without having to leave the hospital premises. This would help them save time and money travelling so that they could appear in person before courts for the different medico legal cases.

The facility enables them to submit their findings and opinions via real time video conferencing.

Courts too stand to benefit from this move since the cases could be resolved faster: the non-availability of doctors on specific dates because pf patient appointments etc. wouldn’t be a problem anymore. A Jipmer doctor recently furnished his findings and opinions in a medico-legal case before a Punjab court through the service just a few days ago.

Thanks to the infrastructure, Jipmer has been declared as the regional resource centre for telemedicine for over 160 medical colleges in South Indian states including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The infrastructure which was created in accordance with the guidelines and norms of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare should come as a relief to the doctors who are already overworked.

The tele-evidence infrastructure at Jipmer integrates telemedicine and telejustice. PGIMER, Chandigarh was the first to implement the advanced tele-evidence facility. So far, the system has been deemed a success.

Seeing that the tele-evidence service has obvious advantages for both doctors and the courts, and also how everything possible should be done to relieve the doctors of the stress caused by their (too)busy schedules, the service ought to be introduced to as many hospitals as possible in the least possible time.

Image credits: indiatoday.intoday.in

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